Our Truth
by Faery's Delight
Summary: They hid away what they did and for VERY good reason, thank you very much. Now shit is hitting the fan and the desk jockeys are PISSED. Whoops?
1. Our Truth 1

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 1

AN: Hello all and welcome to a new story from me! I just have a few things to go over, so much like I did in "Jim Kirk! Legally Blond" and the first Author's Note there, I shall list things that you need to know about this story.

1) **Length**

This thing is _long_. This is about normal for me nowadays to have novel length stories. This story itself is 65 chapters long.

Each chapter is well over 1,300 words long.

2) **Posting** **, Missing a Posting Day**

I will be posting this story twice a week, unless as I get closer to the end I need to extend the time.

For now, it's posted **twice a week, on Monday's and Fridays.** Wednesdays are saved for my Mini/1-2-3 shot stories.

Come November, I will drop to posting twice a week, Monday for this story, Friday for my mini's, since I do the National Novel Writing Month. At first I only posted once a week and that was just one chapter.

Be glad that I don't do that any more.

If I miss a day, that chapter will be posted on the next posting day instead of the chapter that was slated.

3) **Status**

I have already written, rewritten, edited, beta'd, and edited again this story by the time you are reading this. Most of the chapters at least. It's done.

There will be no changes to the story line. I don't think that everyone should love this story. I think it'll be up to the reader if they so choose to love this story. I just wrote what seemed interesting and am now putting it out there.

4) **Pairings** **, Het/yaoi/yuri**

As this story is complete, the pairings are final. The main ones that are shown in the story itself are Genma/Raidou, Genma/Izumo, some hinted Raidou/Kotetsu, Kankuro/Naruto, Iruka/Choji (we get to that chapter around chapter 44 or so), and various other pairings as they come along.

I do have some side stories that I am going to post once this story is done, which will indeed be posted on Monday's and Friday's for the time being. They kind of extend the story line but don't fit into the main story line.

As for anything Het or yuri, you sure as hell won't find that here. You'll find yaoi. And lots of it.

5) **Reviews**

I can not say this enough: I love a good review. Take ten seconds please and send even just a "I love it". I try to respond but sometimes all I can do is a smiley face because that's all I'm doing. I'm smiling.

I also tend to check my reviews and respond the day after I post.

6) **Odd characterizations and OC's**

First of all, this is an odd world. We're diving into a world that we know next to nothing about, so it's kind of interesting how it formed as I wrote.

The world I'm talking about is the desk chunins. It took a lot of rewriting to smooth this story out by the way. A lot.

OC's _are_ kept to a minimum. Sometimes they come in handy.

7) **Violence and Sex scenes on**

I do post the more violent scenes on , but I do not post sex on . I've come across one to many kidlings reading my shit for my taste and I'm not going to be singled out.

If you want to read the story in full, I am on Archive of Our Own and you can find the story under the same title as you see it now. I am under a different name so please don't freak out about some chick named "Strailo" posting my damn story.

Again.

9) **Action and Fighting Scenes**

If you've come here expecting big flashy Jutsu battles, you're not going to get that here. I'm sorry but no. Not happening. Not here at least. This one is where the Ninjas act like Ninjas. Silent killings and all. Yes, there will be jutsu and will be chakra use but not in the normal way.

If you want flashy fights, I know several interesting stories to read. And can tell you that flashy fighting will happen in later stories.

10: Final one **: I don't deal with the bullshit from trolls.**

What does this mean? It means if you don't take my warning to heart, then I don't read your comment, I don't reply to your comment, and I tend to ignore your very existence. I'm too old to give a fuck okay?

This is fanfiction and if you're going to complain about something, then it's not my fault that you didn't read the warnings at the start, much less the tags if you're reading on AO3.

I do have warnings for each chapter guys! They hold trigger warnings. They're not there to take up space.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy and we'll see you next chapter!

Enjoy!

* * *

He didn't truly know when it had all changed for him, shifting into thoughts that revolved around what was important to him and his precious people instead of what everyone else thought. He couldn't pinpoint when his thinking had gone from worrying about what others thought of him and his actions to instead what he thought of them.

Now the memories of just how much the opinion of others had mattered to him before the change scared him. The thought of going back to being the scapegoat and target of so much hate scared him even more, so he worked hard to prove himself. But not to those who hated him, but instead to those who loved him.

He couldn't say that he regretted having lived that way, seeing as he really couldn't bring himself to care about said people. Nor did he care about what they thought about him and the fact that he had helped them several times when they had come to the brink of war.

He supposed that his change of thinking and the way he acted around others had come around the time that he had come back from his three years of training with Jiraiya. He had wandered the whole of the Hidden Lands, having his eyes opened to just how badly he had been treated by the village he called home. He had figured out just how misplaced all of their anger, hatred and sadness had been, and how bad it could have gone if he hadn't turned to the path that he had.

If it hadn't been for the few ANBU that made sure he lived and had someone watching him, and the Sandaime Hokage, one Sarutobi Hiruzen, he had no doubt that there would be no Village Hidden in the Leaves. And the rest of the lands would be at war.

Or worse, destroyed to the last molecule.

That very thought had made him actually try to get drunk when they were in a town one night. He had locked himself in their room to think about why he had wanted to become Hokage. It hadn't been for the right reasons and he had decided to put that dream down until he could find the right reasons to be one.

After that night, he had thrown himself into training and learning about the various positions that were offered in each village. Tsunade had sent him a letter and told him to be careful but to keep doing it since it helped the relationships between the villages. He had learned a lot and found it getting easier to keep the information.

Once the three years had been up and he had arrived home, he found himself getting used to working as a team with Sakura and Kakashi once more. They soon added Sai and Yamato to their lineup, creating a solid new team 7. But only after some bumps in the road.

He had ignored the demands of the village and the council to try to retrieve Sasuke with his new team, instead stating that they had to train. That and they could not dedicate their lives to someone who had turned his back on the village at the first hint of power. The seal gave the person power, but it didn't change the person's core no matter what they thought. Sasuke had made his choice and his choice hadn't been his friends, allies and village, but instead a Sannin who had lost his mind long ago.

Jiraiya had mused that when Orochimaru had joined ROOT under Danzo he had broken from the reality. It made Naruto wonder just how the man would have turned out if he had had the support system that he had obviously needed. With Tsunade and Jiraiya both leaving the village, he had been left vulnerable to the man's manipulations.

Not that they could really prove any of Danzo's doings.

But he was hardly worried about it while he Sakura and Sai were forming a cohesive unit that could take on anything thrown at them.

Since they had focused on coming together as a team, they had passed the Chunin exams with flying colors.

Kakashi had been quite happy about it and had been named one of their two Jounin contacts, much to Iruka's annoyance and the team's enjoyment. The man was still late to everything, but it wasn't all that surprising, the man never really changing. It was what made Kakashi, Kakashi.

The rest of the Rookie Nine had all moved up at various stages during his time away, team 7 being the last of them. Each team had taken the name of their Jounin sensei, becoming Team Asuma, Team Kurenai and Team Kakashi, marking them as the future of the following generations. It was looking good for all of them.

It wasn't so bad being late to become a Chunin all things considered though. They went on missions and made quite a bit of progress during the first six months of being Chunin before they settled into their lives. They still got together and still worked as a team, but they had their own career paths to follow. They also worked with the other teams when they were needed, Sai and Sakura more so than Naruto himself.

Still ignoring the increasing demands to find Sasuke, he took a supposed semi-permanent placement as Iruka's own assistant. He started to learn about the elder nin's various jobs as what others called a Desk Jockey. When the news had gotten out about his requested placement, those who weren't close to him or knew how he had changed during his time out of the village had been surprised. But they were also curious as to why he was doing a job that was made for those who were considered weak.

But the Chunins who worked as so called 'desk jockeys' were far from weak. They were strong and smart and cunning. They had to be to deal with what they dealt with day in and day out. Jounin who were tired and grumpy from long missions. Genin who were just starting to learn just what had to be in a report so had to rewrite them again. And again. And again. ANBU popping in and out, looking for this person or that person. Or even just a report they needed for their boss.

Even their current hokage, the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade was something that they had to often deal with.

They knew exactly who walked in and out of the tower, or who was walking past their desks. They could pinpoint just where a needed report, scroll or book was and return within a matter of minutes. They knew the weaknesses of not only themselves, but of the shinobi that they worked with. They knew the secrets of the village and knew who to send where and who to keep away from which village.

But still, it amazed Naruto that everyone who didn't know the intricate work that they did still thought them weak and nearly useless. What they didn't know though was that things were going to be blown wide open and it would start with a Bingo Book and an idiot who tried for the one place every desk Chunin guarded like rabid wolves.

The Archives of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.


	2. Our Truth 2

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 2

Characters: Naruto, Raidou, some Kurama

Word count: 2,141

Warnings: Nothing as of yet

AN: Whoo, what a positive response to this story so far. :D I can only hope that you guys keep enjoying as the story goes up.

Take a moment to check out my newest Bits and Pieces submission (Naruto) for information on the openings I have with them if you want.

To note: There are a few terms here that are used. Mental-scape just means the inner mind area of a person. Their mental safe place. That sort of thing.

For now I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Naruto was the baby of the group. He could admit that to himself while staring at a picture of all of them together as he organized another room in his mental-scape. He was learning all of the tips and tricks of their position, the time that he wasn't training or working was spent reading and studying. It had been a long eight months since he had been placed under Iruka's care and he had spent most of it studying the profiles of the shinobi that he worked with. He also went over past mission reports and the true history of Konoha as written by the Hokages.

He had learned that when they wrote the history, they sat in a seal array that forced them to tell nothing but the truth as recorded by the chakra of the land. And that had been something amazing to learn.

Naruto had another shock a few months after he had started working with Iruka. He had been warned by the older nin that his mental-scape would change with everything. It was so that he could retain information that much better. He had known that his mind had been shifting even before he had taken his place, but the new mental-scape was a whole different level.

When he had first fallen into his mental-scape so long ago, it had been a sewer with a jail cell for Kurama. But while he had been training, he had found it turning into something more. Something almost like the Hokage Tower but smaller to start with. When he had started to work with Iruka, he had found that it grew, the basement had dried out and things had become neater. Though that was helped along with all of the meditation that he did so he could organize his own thoughts and mind. There were still various rooms that he had in his mental-scape that needed to be organized, but he wasn't very surprised.

He had never thought of his mind as a place to truly store all of his information after all.

Naruto found himself often meditating when he wasn't working, or learning the intricate web that was the Archives, or hanging out with friends and co-workers. But when he wasn't doing any of that, he was filing reports, grading papers or trying not to kill one of his fellow shinobi for an unfinished report. One thing though that sometimes made him stop and think was who he hung out with. It wasn't his friends from the rest of the Rookie Nine but rather, more often than not, his co-workers. His fellow desk Chunin.

It wasn't because he and the rest of the Rookie Nine didn't see each other or have the opportunities to gather though. It was mostly because they didn't understand his willingness to actually be a desk Chunin. They didn't know all of the details of his day and rarely wanted to know, thinking that it wasn't worth their time. Not that he blamed them.

The desk Chunins like it that way after all. It made it easier to work under the radar.

He had found himself making friends with his new co-workers though. Kamizuki Izumo, not so surprisingly, was cool at first but a true friend once he got used to a person. He was also the one that filed all of the ANBU reports as they were handed over by Ibiki during one of his once a week visits. While most, including Naruto, found the interrogation expert annoying since he tended to be condescending, especially after a long night, Izumo said that he had a dry sense of humor when he was in a good mood.

When the other Chunin had told him, eyes gleaming, even with one hidden under the fringe of hair, Naruto had laughed himself sick. Izumo had chuckled and told him just to wait for it and enjoy it when it happened. Naruto had proceeded to fall off of his chair.

They all knew who was top dog though. One Umino Iruka was the one who worked the hardest out of all of them. He somehow knew, even before the rest of the Chunins who worked with them, when someone entered the tower or was coming within ten feet of the door. He was also the hardest on those who turned in their reports, drilling it into people's heads that they needed to write them correctly. But he was also the one with the huge soft spot for those who tried and who respected him. He was always willing to give an extra day to write their reports to those who needed it.

Now, the true surprise came in one Hagane Kotetsu. For all that he looked much like a porcupine with the way his hair stuck up and out, he was probably as sharp as a Nara. He never showed what the knew though, making it easy for those who didn't know him to underestimate him. It was highly amusing to see him go up against some new Chunin and toss their cocky ass around.

The only one who worked the desk as often as they did but wasn't a Chunin was Shiranui Genma. The desk Chunin all knew that he was one of the elite guards of their Hokage, but to everyone else he was simply a tokubetsu Jounin who worked the desks sometimes. When he was relaxed, he tended to make some rather raunchy jokes depending on who was around him. But he was also calm and collected, always watching without actually seeming as if he was.

Naruto had asked Iruka about him one day and he had been told that Genma had been on the same team as Might Gai and Ebisu. He had perfected his relaxed exterior during the time he had worked with them, which was a good cover for him.

It still amazed Naruto just how much he had actually come to care for his fellow desk Chunin, making him realize what he had been missing with the original Team Seven. To watch the four men interact, he found that he had missed out on an easy companionship that didn't come with insults or painful chakra filled hits. He had missed out on friendships that didn't always need to be filled with chatter but could also bask in the silence. He had missed out on the mutual respect.

But now, working as a desk Chunin, he had found all that he had missed and more in his co-workers. Iruka was once more his sensei, but he was also his equal and friend. Something that not even Kakashi had become when they had become a Chunin team instead of just Genin. Izumo and Kotetsu had long before become good friends and sparring partners while Genma had become a wonderful person to go to for advice.

Coming back from his musings with a shake of his head, Naruto tucked the picture away with a smile into an album before putting it onto a shelf. He could feel the tingle of a migraine start up, something that he was warned about since he was changing the way his brain made connections. He was also making it so that his mind was tighter than Ibiki's ass. He was still lucky in the fact that most of the time the migraines were easy to shake off with a short power nap and some food. But he had found out that if he wasn't careful, he would end up with one that stuck around and required medication if he didn't want it to incapacitate him.

He had had one big surprise even though knowing that his mental-scape had changed in new ways the first time he had actually explored. It had been Kurama's cage, which had gone from a dank, wet cage with bars held shut by a seal to the seal turning into a collar around his neck. He could go where he wanted but that didn't mean that he could do anything, nor did he want to do anything to his host. He had found the anger that he had harbored had started to wear away along with whatever had been controlling him in the first place.

When Naruto had gone exploring after discovering Kurama as a normal sized fox with nine tails, he had found several rooms. Each room had shelves that were filled with bins marked with what they contained within. Opening each bin, he had discovered that they were memories in various forms. Memories tended to be pictures and journals, while anything that he learned tended to be tomes, scrolls, and bits of paper that he had to go through.

That had been a week after he had started his training but after a month, his small tower had grown to be as big as the real one. His reading and writing skills took up their own rooms which helped since he had so much to go through and the speed that came with the skills was put to good work.

But after eight months of training and learning, his mental-scape wasn't just the inside of the Hokage Tower, but was a huge maze with all sorts of tricks and traps. Hidden doors, passageways and levels that no one could get to unless they were him or Kurama scattered the tower. Every room that was under the top three levels were stuffed full of well-organized information, the layout much like the Archives that they protected. Each room had seals on it to prevent anyone from entering without him knowing it too.

He had to laugh as he remembered the first time that he had had Inoichi check out his mental-scape out. The Yamanaka had met Kurama with his sealing necklace and had promptly sat there staring for a good hour. He had been told that if anything, anyone coming across a bored looking Kyuubi would stop dead in their tracks.

To say that he and the fox had gotten past the past was an understatement. They had come to an agreement that Naruto wouldn't put Kurama back into his cage forcibly via the collar, and the fox would try to work out his anger. The psychology books that Naruto started to read helped in that aspect. It was working out rather well for them and he would often find the fox reading some book that Naruto had read in his past.

Shaking his head to clear it, Naruto smiled and placed the files that he had just organized into their proper boxes and slid the box onto its spot. Pulling out of his mental-scape, he yawned and slowly stood, stretching his muscles. He groaned and picked up the box that he had physically gone over and tucked those files away before walking to where the box was to sit. Sealing the lid with a bit of chakra, he placed the box down and smiled when a seal glowed on the shelf and the side of the box before it dimmed once more.

With that done, he left the archive room, resetting the various traps the he had disabled earlier, closing the door behind and activating the seals around it. Checking the lock and finding it fully engaged, he headed towards the break room and the checkout clock. He punched out and smiled at the dozing Raidou, shaking his head at the scarred man. He had to admit that he was good looking with brown eyes and matching hair that liked to fuzz around his head, with or without the scars.

Huffing, he reached over to the dozing man and poked him in the shoulder, watching him jerk. "Why aren't you at home by now? Isn't Genma waiting for you?" he asked when he got a sleepy blink aimed at him.

"Was waiting for you," Raidou said, stretching his arms over his head as he stood up. He adjusted his hiate and smoothed his hair out somewhat as Naruto stared at him.

"Again?" Naruto asked as he gathered his things from his locker. The two continued to talk as they walked down the hallway for the stairs and back exit. "That's the fourth time in two months."

"Yeah, yeah. Apparently Kakashi-san ran across some information on his last mission. Someone is offering some heavy amounts of money to get their hands on you guys," Raidou said. "I guess that's why Iruka was the only one in that particular meeting and why the actual report was so damn flimsy, as I heard you bitch about it."

"It could also be why he can't do any missions near Cloud for a while now. He's usually the one who goes if he can," Naruto mused, his eyes hazy as he lost himself to thought. Raidou made a thoughtful noise as they left the Tower and headed to their apartment building.


	3. Our Truth 3

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 3

Characters: Iruka, Naruto,

Word count: 1,879

Warnings: Nothing really

AN: Some notes on this chapter.

Each Ryo equals about 10 Yen, so 570 Ryo equals 5,700 Yen. Break that down into American Dollar, and it is around 55 dollars (give or take) as of 2016. So for two of the bingo books mentioned in this chapter, you would pay about 27.50 American Dollar.

So now that we're done with that little lesson (I'm not trying to get into economy and shifting yen to dollar bullshit because it makes my head hurt), I have to say that this was the real turning point in regards to the plot that I had for this story. It started to take form and it was just so much fun to write.

It was a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

It was little and black, this one actually titled with "Konoha Bingo Book" across the top. In the right bottom corner was the word "Chunin" gray against the black. No one but actual Chunins were usually interested in the bingo book before him, since most thought that Chunins weren't all that dangerous. Everyone wanted the bigger, badder bounties so went for the more mainstream bingo books when they came out. They wanted the missing nin or the Jounin that had a kill list a mile long to their names.

After all, who would ever think that the small fries who did smaller missions and worked the desks had some of the biggest bounties?

They all had to wonder though what would happen if someone who wasn't one of them got their hands on their bingo book. Would their minds break from the information that was found within? Would the bounties offered on them alive and well surprise them? Would they even _believe_ it?

After all, it was highly amusing to them to know that they had some of the biggest bounties that were being offered. There was even one that was just slightly bigger than the one offered for Hatake Kakashi's head.

But now, staring at it as it sat on Iruka's kitchen table like any normal book, Naruto had to wrinkle his nose. Iruka just smiled as he poured water over the tea strainer, watching him. "So where do we find these?" he asked, his tone curious as he flipped to the first page. He read over the basic information of how the book was set up and how each category was done along with how information was obtained.

Iruka placed a tea cup down before Naruto, putting the pot on the table soon after. "You can get them at the Flying Leaf Office and Bookstore," he said. Naruto cocked an eyebrow, drawing his eyes away from the Bingo Book.

"I'm lucky that the new owner likes me since her dad sure as hell didn't," Naruto snorted. "It does make it easier to do my business though. Which is good since it looks like I need to invest in one of these."

Iruka nodded as he sat with his own cup. He knew exactly why Naruto was finding it so easy to do business with the daughter seeing as she had a crush on him. There were quite a few females, civilian and nin, that had crushes on him actually. Especially since he had turned eighteen and could claim his family names fully. Even with the fact that he was a desk Chunin, he was still good looking after all.

Naruto had gone from a short, prank pulling nimrod to a still kind of short, semi-androgynous young adult. He had obvious intelligence shining through blue eyes that sparkled under blond hair. His hiate most times sat around his neck or acted like a headband so his hair tended to fall around his face with no trouble. All that along with the sun kissed skin that reminded one of butterscotch that stretched over lean, strong muscles made for a lovely picture. His talents on the battlefield also tended to show up in the way he could move from one thing to another without interrupting his flow.

He always seemed oblivious to the looks though and it amused the rest of the desk Chunins.

"Just be glad that you're able to get whatever you need to get without a lot of trouble at the very least," Iruka mused as he stirred his tea, adding a bit of honey. "You might want to figure in about 570 ryo into your next round of bills and buy a couple of slots for the next two books. Those who have those slots get them first, meaning that they're told when they come out. Especially since they tend to come out every six to eight months now days."

Naruto blinked, knowing that outside of the ones that were available to everyone who had a shinobi number and ID, they were updated only about once a year. Jounins took theirs in and had it updated by ANBU, or replaced if they needed it. But still… "Well, I can spare that," Naruto said after he mused. He put that interesting bit of information to the side. Picking up his tea cup, he sipped at the reddish liquid within, the scent of pomegranate teasing his senses. It drew a smile from him, knowing that Iruka knew of his weakness for pomegranate teas. "Whose bounty went up this time?" he asked.

"Mine went up about fifty ryo, and they somehow got the idea that Genma is a Chunin again. His bounty went up again too," Iruka mused, frowning at his own tea cup. He tasted his tea and added more honey to his tea. "There is an interesting addition to the section on trainees though. You have a full three pages to your name. But what's in it actually worries me a little."

"Why would it worry you?" Naruto asked as he stared at Iruka. His eyebrows drew together over his darkening blue eyes. He knew that the Iruka only worried about something for very good reason. He was really smart and had a refined warning instinct that put some ANBU's to shame. The young blond had learned that he had to have such a refined instinct as a protector of the village Archives. That and he had to often dodge incoming kunai from the future shinobi of the village.

It had only taken him three days as Iruka's assistant to learn to listen to him when he was worried about something.

"Now, when a Chunin is first placed in this book, there really isn't a lot of information about them. Names, ages, village affiliation, their Jounin instructor, Genin teammates and how long they have been a Chunin," Iruka told him as he flipped the bingo book open. He found the trainee profiles and showed Naruto what he was talking about. The profiles were sparse, just as he said.

"Yeah, I can see you're right," Naruto sighed, eyeing the profiles with a frown. Iruka reached over and flipped to the pages that held Naruto's personal profile. It did extend over four pages and had quite a bit of details. "Damn," he whistled, "just who have they been talking to?"

"Not only do they have your basic information, but they have information about your time traveling with Jiraiya-sama along with some of your known jutsus. They included your Rasengan and Kage Bushin. They also have it that you know several new jutsus that you have acquired after you gained your Chunin status. Along with that, they have that you are a melee fighter, a few of your kills, and a couple of the bounties that you have collected. This includes that first A class mission that happened when you were still with your Genin team." He lent forward as Naruto's eyes narrowed and his lips thinned. "The information, for the most part, is not really outdated but your fighting style has changed, and you've also added many more jutsus then labeled. They still think that you still have a weakness with genjutsu."

"And all of that means?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side, tilting an eyebrow at his teacher.

"It means that whoever gathered the information got it from reports, outdated stories, or from Kakashi-san's Bingo Book entry," he stated and sat back in his seat.

"It's like the person who wrote this up can't get the real information outside of what is known village wide," Naruto thought aloud as he read over the information. Tapping on a line that was in bold, he smirked. "Hell, they even admit here that the information is old and possibly out of date. Along with the fact that they missed the fact that Tsunade and Jiraiya were named my godparents," he said.

"Which I think is a good thing. We wouldn't want them to go after you if they thought they could use you to hurt our two loyal Sannin," the older Chunin stated. He reached up and pulled his hair loose from his ponytail, not feeling up to leaving the apartment after they were done.

"That can be true. Hey, they say that Raidou is helping me prepare for my Jounin exams and that it's Genma who is my sensei. Am I really around them that much?" Naruto asked, looking to his friend and sensei. Iruka just smirked at him and nodded his head, causing him to pout about that.

"Well, at least you have some misleading information in this, which can be good and bad," Iruka drawled. He finished off his tea and put the cup down before him. Naruto just stared at his companion before he continued to read over his profile, taking in all of the information provided.

There was the basic information, including his dead last placement in the academy. They had also included the fact that he was Jiraiya's apprentice, and his Genin sensei was Hatake Kakashi. They also had the correct information that his two original teammates were Tsunade's secondary apprentice, Haruno Sakura, and the now missing Uchiha Sauske. They even had the fact that Sai was Sasuke's replacement and they had a second commander in Yamato.

They even had some information on the missions that he had done over the years. There weren't a whole lot on said missions beyond their ranks and if they were successful. He ran his eyes over it and found that the Wave Mission was listed as a C rank turned B rank instead of A. It made him burst into giggles.

"Gods, not only did they get some of my mission ranks wrong," he snickered, "but they also got my elemental affiliation wrong too. They have me down as lightning because of a few of my past battles," he continued, the news making Iruka smirk heavily at him.

"That is good actually," Iruka drawled, pouring some more tea for both of them. Naruto made an inquisitive sound. "It's misleading which gives you an edge in future missions. We do want that particular edge after all."

"Well, I suppose that's good news in all of this," Naruto said. He flipped the pages back to the beginning and started to go through it. "Anything else that's new with our dear Bingo Book?" he asked.

"There's a few bounties for Chunins outside of Konoha that have made it into our books because they're allies," Iruka said. He watched with a smile as Naruto started to work through the book, one page at a time. He could see just how the younger Chunin was absorbing the information with surprising ease, feeling insanely proud of just how far Naruto had come during his training and just how far he would go in later years.


	4. Our Truth 4

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 4

Characters: Izumo, Kotetsu, Naruto, Genma, Raidou

Word count: 1543

Warnings: Flirting, slight manipulation

AN: I missed this on Friday and it's being posted today because I'm not gonna be home tomorrow! So be happy all.

Enjoy.

* * *

When Gai walked into the mission room, he wasn't quite sure as to what he was seeing. Much less that it was even possible.

Looking around, he made sure that he was indeed in the mission room and not instead the break room. He was in the right room, Izumo, Naruto and Kotetsu working the desk while Raidou and Genma hung out. But what surprised him was that Raidou and Genma were both flirting with the amused Izumo. Watching as the younger male tried to hide under the long fringe of his bangs as he blushed, the Jounin shifted on his feet and gathered his courage. He smiled as he walked up to the desk.

"Naruto-san! What a wonderful surprise to see you working so very hard!" Gai boomed out in greeting. He was hardly surprised when the blond yelped and fell backwards in his chair, papers flying about him.

"Gai-san, what a delight to see you again," Naruto greeted in return as he stood up off of the floor. He picked up the papers, tucking them back into some order. Gai raised an eyebrow at catching "The Do's and Don'ts of Archival Traps" before the paper disappeared into the pile. Surprise worked its way through him at how fast Naruto had hidden the paper as he flipped the pile over. "Raidou-kun, Genma-kun, leave Izumo-kun alone that he can help me with Gai-san," he stated, looking over at the other men.

Genma pouted around his senbon at Naruto, resting his hip against the table next to him. "Aw, but, Naru-chan, our dear Izu-kun hasn't answered our question," Genma whined, watching as one blond eyebrow ticked. He loved teasing the baby of the group, as did several other nins who were in the know. It was just too much fun watching him get riled.

"Leave him alone. If he wants to sleep with you and Raidou-kun, then he will. Until then, I need his help with Gai-san's paperwork," Naruto gritted out before tossing a kunai at the bandannaed man. He nicked the edge of the metal plate, just barely, getting a yelp of surprise. "And stop calling me Naru-chan! I'm not sleeping with you," he huffed, eyeing Genma as he hid behind Raidou. The scarred man just snickered at his lovers antics.

"You're so mean to me," Genma pouted as Izumo tapped him on the head with one finger. Sitting down next to the blond, the Chunin smiled and played with some of the blond locks as they were watched by Genma. "And why can't I call you Naru-chan? Zumo-kun and Iruka-kun both get away with it."

"Because I like them more than you," Naruto stated, Izumo smirking behind his fringe as Kotetsu's laughter floated from the back room.

Gai watched everything happening with a semi-curious look on his face. He decided to look at his mission report in his hand and make sure that it was complete, and had the right information. He knew quite well that Naruto had been taught by Iruka and was considered his baby brother. But what no one had learned quite yet was what habits the young man had picked up or learned from him. Most tended to make sure that they had all they needed just be safe.

"Gai-san, do you have your mission report ready for us?" Izumo asked, getting the usual blinding smile from the taijutsu expert.

"Ah, yes, Izumo-san, Naruto-san. Lee-kun also has his but he will have to bring his own to you when he has been released," Gai replied. "He has a rather badly twisted ankle that required a visit to the medics," he explained. He smiled and handed over the report with a nod of his head.

Naruto set his pile of papers further to the side and started to read over the report. Izumo bent closer to him and pointed out the various points on the report that he was to look for from such a long mission. He spoke lowly, barely loud enough for his friend's sensitive hearing to catch his words. Finally the two Chunin sat up straight and they smiled, looking to Gai with grateful looks. "Thank you, Gai-san, for taking the time to write your report out in full. And for not making me yell at you to rewrite it," Naruto told him, picking up a water glass to take a drink. He put it back down. "My throat was starting to get sore from all of the yelling.

"Aw, but Naru-chan, sometimes getting it sore can be a whole lot of fun to do," Kotetsu drawled as he walked back into the main area from the back room. He was carrying a box that Gai knew held reports that had to be put away into the archives. It even carried some reports that had been filed away already but was being shifted to a new area.

"Oh? I take it that you have a lot of experience with that?" Raidou asked, his voice a rolling purr that made Gai blink. He was unused to seeing the usually calm and cool man actually flirt. Kotetsu winked at him as he put the box in his arms down onto a table, the seals flaring for a short moment before dying.

Gai felt something in the back of his mind twitch and try to break at seeing Kotetsu respond.

"Why yes, quite a bit. You'd be really surprised just how pounce happy Izumo-kun can be when he's all worked up," Kotetsu said, smirking smugly. The group just knew he was thinking of the last time it had happened.

"Hagane Kotetsu!" Izumo yelped, his cheeks bright with a blush. Naruto just ignored the two lovers and stamped the mission report. He placed it into the file cabinet that took up space next to the desks.

"Thank you, Gai-san, for your promptness in turning in your mission report. And please tell Lee, if you see him before I do, that I hope his ankle is better soon," Naruto said, sounding bright and happy.

"I shall do that," Gai promised, nodding his head before leaving the room. Kotetsu and Raidou had started to flirt with one another while Naruto went back to his papers. Izumo was ignoring it all to go over paperwork. Looking over his shoulder, he decided that going to get drunk after seeing that would be a good thing.

Looking up once Gai's chakra signature had left, Naruto huffed and looked over at Kotetsu and Raidou. Both men had serious expressions on their faces, Izumo staring at the doorway with thoughtful eyes. "Too much?" Genma asked, flopping down into a chair.

"No, I think just enough," Izumo replied, smiling slightly. "Just enough to make our dear Gai-san go and get drunk. Maybe get laid. He was out on this mission for quite a while this time," he mused, shaking his head. Naruto hummed and dug out Gai's report, once more reading over it.

"I'm going to have to file this specially aren't I?" he asked, sighing when Izumo nodded. "Damn, I was hoping to get out early tonight. I promised Shino and Shikamaru that I'd hook up with them for a late dinner," Naruto grumped. "Now, explain to me why you just broke poor Gai-san's brain?"

Kotetsu chuckled and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "We do that so that any incoming Jounin will go out and get drunk. Or get laid. At least those who spend more than a few weeks in the field," he stated, tilting his head with a smile.

"They won't to do it voluntarily more often than not, so we do something that we know will send them to find company. They need to reconnect in some way and it's not in a nins nature to drink alone," Genma drawled.

Naruto stared at his friend before snorting. "And they all say that you don't have a decent brain," he teased, getting a huff.

"Anyways, there are times that we can tease them into going to find a partner for the night. But more often than not, we leave that to the cuter ones," Kotetsu chuckled. Izumo rolled his eyes and shook his head when his lover patted him on the head.

"What he means is, he lets me and Iruka tease the poor Jounins into needing to find a partner. It takes practice but some of it does come naturally," Izumo explained.

Naruto just blinked at him and tilted his head to the side. Raidou whimpered and turned away before smacking his head on the closest wall. "He's going to be one of the cute ones, isn't he?" he whined.

Izumo burst into laughter at the scowl on Naruto's face. "Don't worry. It's fun teasing shinobi into what they need to do," he promised, making Naruto sigh.

"I suppose I can put myself to good work. I think though that I'm going to go file this though," he said, waving Gai's report. Standing up, he shook his head and smiled to himself as he headed to the Archives to file the report. He was learning more and more every day.

He was loving it.


	5. Our Truth 5

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 5

Characters: Kakashi, Anko, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma

Word count: 1395

Warnings: Nothing as of yet

AN: Ahhh. We're getting somewhere now. *smirks*

That's right, we're getting into what turns things upside down and inside out for our poor, sweet chunins!

Enjoy.

* * *

Leaving the tower, his head hurting slightly as he remembered the scene that he had walked into, Gai decided that he would need something to drink. A lot of something and preferably hard enough to leave him with an actual hangover the next day. Rubbing at his head, he groaned at the memory of two tokubetsu Jounin flirt with the desk Chunin, no matter how often they may actually hang out.

Taking to the roofs, it wasn't long before he arrived at the Broken Kunai. He dropped into a seat at a booth that already had Anko, Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma all sitting there. Ordering a couple bottle of beers, he greeted his fellow Jounin with a nod, waiting for his bottles to be placed before him. Popping the top off the first one, he drained half of the drink before rubbing at his face with a groan. Anko was the first to burst into low snickers next to him, a knowing smirk dancing on her lips. Gai just gave her a wary look and kept quiet.

"So, tell me, my dear Gai-kun, about what it is that you saw that made you drink nearly an entire bottle of beer within thirty seconds of it being set down," she drawled, her voice a rolling purr. They all knew that it was one that she used when she smelled gossip that would make her very happy.

"You know what, with the way that everyone is, you would think that by now I would be used to seeing flirting people. But what I am not used to is finding a Jounin, tokubetsu or not, flirting quite seriously with a desk Chunin," Gai groaned, draining the rest of his bottle. He popped the top of the second bottle. "My brain is trying to break so I need to drink before it does." He easily drained half of the bottle again, the waitress grabbing the empty ones on the table before disappearing once more.

"Who was flirting with who this time?" Anko asked, leaning towards Gai with an eager smile. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma all turned to her, staring in some surprise as Gai drained the rest of his bottle. She snorted at them. "What? Everyone who works closely with that bunch sees them flirt and play at least once. Raidou especially seems to be well practiced in making the bunch blush and call him a pervert. Which is surprising considering there is Genma running around."

"Genma may seem the perverted one but that's only when he's feeling relaxed or is drunk," Kakashi stated, shaking his head. He waved down their waitress for more drinks.

"It was Raidou-san and Genma-san who were flirting," Gai stated, swirling his beer about. "They were flirting with Izumo-san when I got there to drop off my report. "Though when I left, Kotetsu-san had started to flirt with them instead as Izumo-san and Naruto-kun decided to ignore them. It looked to be a rather practiced move too." Anko snickered into her sake cup as Asuma and Kurenai shook their heads. Kakashi just looked contemplative as he played with his own bottle and the straw that came with it.

"I think I may have been drinking a bit too much so far, but...the question is, do we really know about desk jockeys?" Kakashi asked, eye looking thoughtful. He stuck his straw into the side of his mask and sipped at the beer before letting the straw go. He smoothed his mask down before asking, "I mean, really know what they do?"

Asuma turned to his friend, smoke dancing from the cigarette hanging from his mouth. "And what exactly do you mean by that, Kakashi-san?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, do tell us," Kurenai said, crossing her legs under the table. Her blood red eyes sparkled with her own curiosity over the rim of her beer glass.

"I always just thought that they nag us about filling out our mission reports completely. Beyond handing out the mission assignments and watching the front gates," Asuma said, prompting Anko to actually shake her head.

"Nah, there's more to their jobs then what they'll tell anyone. Much less show anyone," Anko said, waving her empty cup before filling it from her sake bottle. "There's a good reason why they're the Hokage's spoiled nins." Kakashi and Gai both waved their hands, coaxing her to tell them more. "I can't really tell you all of it since Ibiki would have my hide if I did. Some of it is tangled up in ANBU and Interrogation. But there is talk that there are some that have some hefty bounties on their heads. This is just for the information that they deal with on a day to day basis. Along with the shit that they know. And considering that they're the only ones who have full access to the Archives half the time?"

"I would think that the Archives are just all of the past mission reports and the scrolls of history that are too delicate to keep in the library." Gai's eyebrows drew together in confusion as Anko flicked her dark eyes at him and shook her head. "No?"

"No. It doesn't just have those, it has every, single mission that has been done by the shinobi of Konohagakure. There are also every jutsu of the village, up to and including the ones that are so forbidden that only the Hokage has permission to use and give permission to use. It has the information on our clans, all the way from the start of our village to present day, along with _their_ jutsus and fighting styles." Anko paused to take a sip of her drink before leaning forward. "No one, and I mean no one, but those who work in the Archives and Tsunade-sama herself know _exactly_ what is in there. Much less where things are actually placed," she hissed. Her companions blinked as they processed the information.

"You have got to be fucking me," Asuma yelped before he quickly looked around. It looked as if the rest of the nins in the bar were ignoring them, but one could never quite tell when it came to a bar full of them. They all knew how to spy without being caught after all.

"Not a bit," Anko hissed. "Even Ibiki respects the desk Chunins in his own way. It doesn't matter if he gets grumpy or not, he respects them. But he has used those days when he's grumpy to remind others just why our sweet little desk Chunin are the scary ones," the snake mistress continued before downing her cup. Turning to a passing waitress, she asked for a pitcher of water and glasses to be delivered.

"So, what you're really telling us that we don't know squat about our dear desk jockeys and the dangers of their lives?" Kakashi asked, Anko nodding her head. "You know, now that I really think about it, we really don't know shit about them, do we? We kind of pass them over in the long run," he said, shaking his head.

"I have a feeling that's the way they want it," Kurenai mused, taking a glass when the water pitcher was put down. Pouring some, she smiled slightly. "They work so hard to be so normal that they're the ones who are ignored. Even in battle we tend to underestimate Chunins," she said, shrugging.

"At least until they kick your ass and nearly get away," Asuma snorted, shaking his head with some amusement.

"Tell me, Anko-chan, do we know if there's a Bingo Book for the supposed softer Chunin?" Kakashi asked, propping his chin on his hands and smirking at her.

Anko just returned the smirk and pulled out a semi-thick, little black book down onto the table. "They come out whenever there are new entries. They're not updated like ours. They have to be printed out and only in small batches. You can pre-pay for the next one and you'll get a message when they come out. You can also buy one when they come out, but only if you're fast enough to get them."

The Jounin stared at the book before exchanging looks. "Oh, they are good," Kurenai snorted, shaking her head and sitting back.


	6. Our Truth 6

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 6

Characters: Desk Chunins, Gai, Tsunade

Word count: 2,384

Warnings: Nothing as of yet

AN: I...am so exhausted right now. It's ridiculous. But here I am, posting this a day early since once more, I'm not going to be here come tomorrow.

So I hope you enjoy this.

* * *

Iruka didn't know what to think as he took another completed mission report from one of many nins who had finished with their mission. He gave the woman a wary look before looking down at the pages, scanning over and picking out the needed information before stamping it. "Thank you, Tenten-san," he said, getting a bright smile from the brunette. The two buns on her head looked a little frazzled, but all around, she looked happy.

"You're very welcome, Iruka-san," she chirped, smiling at him some more before she left the room with a bounce. Iruka just blink after her, wondering what was going on. Taking a slow, deep breath to center himself, he filed away the report away with the others before he shared a look with a bored looking Genma. He saw the same wariness in his brown eyes that was filling his own body.

"I'm starting to wonder as to why we are suddenly getting all of these completed reports without us having yelled at them first," Iruka finally said. The mission room was empty for the moment, meaning that they could talk without any worry.

"I don't have a clue. Though...Nah. Maybe...I do keep hearing that there's some interesting rumors about a desk Chunin's job. Along with why us Tokubetsus help you guys. But, and do keep this in mind, not one person has said a damn word around me." Genma looked at his friend with a frown. "I heard this all second hand and spying on people."

Iruka frowned to himself as he narrowed his eyes down at the papers on his desk. "Do you think that they're wondering about us again?" the Chunin asked as he shuffled them around. Standing up, he started to go through the reports to check them against the list of reports that were still needed.

"Once more, I have no clue. But you do remember the last time someone got interested in the job you do right? You guys ended up handing out some serious amounts of punishment missions more often than usual for nearly a week," Genma grunted. He stood himself and moved to check on their supplies there at the desk. Iruka snorted as the senbon user grabbed a bottle of ink and poured a bit onto a pad.

"Yes, I remember that. They tried so very hard to stalk after us and get into some of the locked rooms. We're just lucky that they never tried to get into the actual Archives. I didn't want to deal with whining Jounin," Iruka stated, pausing to smirk at a thought. "They would have ended up with much worse punishment than cleaning up trash or shoveling manure." He frowned as he flipped through a report before turning to Genma as he put the list down. "Has Gai-san turned in his mission report for today yet?" he asked.

"Not yet. But it might take him some time if he's gonna do what everyone else has done with their reports," Genma stated as he checked the other ink pads. He grabbed his own paperwork as he moved to sit, and shuffled it around before finding his pen. He checked the notes that he had taken while they worked, using them to fill out the information.

"That's just wonderful," Iruka replied, sarcasm dripping from each word. Finishing with his check over of the reports, he sat down and started his own paperwork that was waiting for him. Outside of filing the various reports that were due, handing out needed missions, and doing more personal missions and jobs for the Hokage, every desk chunnin and tokubetsu Jounin wrote out their own reports. They were mostly about any and all shinobi that they dealt with during the day and their observations of them.

Those reports written by the desk Chunin helped their fellow nin be profiled so that they could figure out what missions they were to be given. To create a proper profile they used a complicated mix of reports that were handed in by each nin, their past mission reports, and reports from their physical and psychological doctors. The profiles meant that the actual death rate of their people dropped drastically. Which meant that they were able to do more missions and bring in more money.

And it started with a desk Chunin's observations.

Just as the two nins finished off the first half of their paperwork, a rather frazzled looking Naruto nearly ran into the mission room. He was dragging an equally frazzled looking Gai behind him, the man looking around with wide eyes. Genma and Iruka looked up, startled and wondering what was going on.

"Iruka-kun!" Naruto cried out as he came to a stop before the desk. "I think we have a, well I'm not sure if it's a slight problem or a very big problem," he blurted out. He let go of Gai's wrist as he bounced before the two men, his blue eyes dark with worry.

"Naruto-kun?" Iruka asked, sounding slightly bewildered and worried. It wasn't often that Naruto was frazzled. Not since he had come back from his training with Jiraiya. "Aren't you off today? What are you doing here? And what the hell do you mean by a problem?" he asked. He quickly shoved his paperwork into its folder, already feeling that things were about to hit the fan in a small way.

"Yes, it's my day off. But I was at the Broken Kunai for the lunch special since I still have to go food shopping. Anyways, I just happened to be there in time to catch a couple kunoichi talking," Naruto started. He rubbed his hands together, a tic he had that came out when he was worried. "Iruka-kun, they were talking about _us_. That is, they were talking about desk Chunin and the tokubetsu Jounins who work with us sometimes. And they were talking about what we really do. And damnit all, they were really fucking close to guessing about how dangerous it can be to be one of us," he babbled, sounding stressed and worried. He continued to bounce as Iruka watched him, blinking several times as his mind whirled. Genma burst into cursing as he stood up and nearly ran for a side room that held the few messenger birds that they had.

"Okay, breathe and calm down, Naruto-kun. Can you tell me why Gai-san is here?" Iruka finally asked. His voice was strained as he began to hunt down fresh paper and a new pen on the desks.

"I grabbed him so he can spill everything he knows. Otherwise, he's going to end up on the short list for some of the dirtiest, nastiest missions for the next two years," Naruto promised. His eyes stayed steady on the taller, green wearing male. Gai just smiled nervously at him as he remembered just why Naruto reminded him of Iruka. It just enforced the thought that Naruto was just as dangerous as the usually mild tempered Chunin.

"That was a very good move, Naruto-kun. Now, Gai-san, whatever you are about to hear or see cannot leave this room. Ever. This is highly classified and shall be treated as an S-Class mission," Iruka stated, getting a sharp nod from the large man.

Genma walked back in from the side room as Iruka found paper, his expression serious. "I sent out the summons and I also sent one to Tsunade-sama. We'll have to remember to put up those new privacy seals though," he said. He nodded his head at Gai before moving to gather more paper and pens for the impromptu meeting. Once he had it, he moved around the room and activated the various hidden seals around the mission room.

"Naruto-kun, how about you start detailing what you had heard while it's still fresh in your mind," Iruka said, a soft, understanding smile on his lips. Naruto flopped down into one of the many chairs near the desks and started to go over the rumors of their jobs and how it was so dangerous for them. He also went over the ones about they thought they could possibly know and had seen during their time as desk workers. Iruka sighed, thanking all the Gods that it looked as if the rumors were still off from the truth. But he didn't like how close some were.

As he wrote down notes and asked questions, Iruka had a feeling that there many other rumors out there. And that they needed to find all of them in someway.

Kotetsu, Izumo, and Raidou all arrived at the mission room within a few minutes of the summons being sent out. They slid in past the door, their cheeks flushed and hair mussed, all of them looking worried and harried. "What's going on that's sent you guys into a tizzy?" Izumo finally asked as he panted, smoothing his fringe back down over his eye.

"We need to wait for Tsunade-sama to arrive before we can talk about it," Iruka said, rolling his shoulders. "But in general, there's new rumors about us and our jobs." He frowned as he watched Naruto pull some paper towards him and write out a full report in his neat, little handwriting. Genma was standing next to Gai as the man worked on his own report, starting with the night at the bar with his fellow nins.

Izumo and Kotetsu moved to the side room and found more chairs for Gai and Tsunade. The large male sat down in an absent minded way as Raidou took to leaning over Naruto's shoulder. He watched what the young man had already written and asked soft questions to help him remember information. It didn't take long for Tsunade to stalk into the room, her usual green jacket fluttering behind her as she growled. The rather interesting mutterings about nins and their insatiable need to learn new things and getting into trouble for their efforts were highly amusing.

"Tell me what's happened this time?" she asked, her hazel eyes flashing as she took her own seat at the desk. Iruka took Naruto's finished report and handed her in answer, Gai handed over his own as she read over the report with a frown. Her softly shaded blond hair fell over her shoulders and she had to snarl unhappily at the words. "Where exactly did these rumors start?" she asked Gai. She watched him frown and think for a few minutes.

"I can not really tell, Tsunade-sama, not really. I suppose it was the night that Kakashi-san, Anko-san, Kurenai-san, Asuma-san and myself were together last. We did indeed talk about the desk Chunins and tokubetsu Jounins, but this was after I walked in on Raidou-san and Genma-san flirting with Izumo-san," Gai stated. He rubbed his chin in thought and slumped down slightly. "Since I hadn't been expecting to see such a sight, I figured that going to the bar afterwards was a good idea. We got into a conversation about them. Anko-san let on during our conversation that their jobs are much harder than what most of us believe it to be. She also showed us the Bingo Book that is dedicated to Chunins. Most of them are those who work the desks," he continued. He watched as Tsunade and the others stared at him, surprise on their faces.

"And just how the hell did Anko-san find out about your Bingo Book?" Naruto asked as he leant towards Iruka and frowned. Iruka tapped his bottom lip as his eyebrows drew together.

"It is quite possible that she learned about it from Ibiki-san since she doesn't work with us very closely. He, on the other hand, does know about all of the different types of Bingo Books. And with her as his apprentice, he would have told her about them," he mused. "But if she's actually talking about them so freely, there can be every reason to worry about what ends up getting around what does get out in the long run."

"I'm thinking that it seems as if I'm going to have to have a long talk with certain nins about their tendencies to poke their noses where they shouldn't be," Tsunade drawled. She stood with a sigh, shaking her head. "If too much information on how we work in this building leaks out, it can make our jobs that much harder to do. This is especially true since we now have to scramble our fucking web again. Iruka-san, I want you to plan and set up a backup idea for the holding of the Archives. Along with several backup places. Tell me when you have it."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Iruka said. He nodded his head before he grabbed of the fresh papers and started to write out the plan. Gai swallowed and stood as Tsunade left the mission room with a snarl. "Gai-san, what we need you to do from now on is come to us if you hear any more rumors. We also need your former students to do this for us too, but do keep the reasons why to the bare minimum."

"I will strive to do what you request of me, Iruka-san. If you will excuse me though, I must finish off my mission report to turn in," Gai said as he bowed to the group. They noted that he was quick to leave, everyone thinking that the man was probably thinking heavily.

"As for the rest of us, Naruto-kun, your training will need to start speeding up. You need to be as trained as we possibly can so that you can tweak your mental-scape at will," Iruka stated. Naruto gave him a sharp nod, a frown tugging at pink lips. "Raidou-san, Izumo-san, I need you two to help him with that. Outside of a Yamanaka, you two are the best to help him," he said. The two nodded and grabbed their own papers, starting to plan how they were going to teach the young man.

Things would need to speed up, which meant that time off and other activities would suffer for all of them for the next while. How long, they weren't quite sure about.


	7. Our Truth 7

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 7

Characters: Raidou, Genma, Iruka, Izumo, Kotetsu, Naruto

Word count: 2,503

Warnings: Nothing, just chatting, some language

AN: Still tired but better, which is nice. Yep.

We're still getting into things to! Such fun. Please remember during November there will only be 1 chapter a week posted for this story. Why? Because I do National Novel Writing Month and I'm not killing myself posting three times a week. I can do twice a week, not 3 times.

For now, enjoy.

* * *

Closing his apartment door behind him, Naruto ran his tongue over his lips and let his head thunk against the apartment door. He tried to calm his madly swirling mind down, groaning softly.

He had gone to a nin friendly food store that didn't care about his supposed reputation, and had ended up hearing even more rumors. There had been the usual ones about what they did on a daily basis and what they actually did know. But there were also a few about the Archives. He had quickly gathered what he needed for the all night brainstorming for new traps and seals for the Hokage Tower and booked it back to his apartment.

Finally pushing away from the door with a huff, he pulled out the sealing scrolls that held his groceries down onto his kitchen table. He found a notebook and pen before sitting at his coffee table and writing down what he had heard with Kurama helping him. As he finished, he took a deep breath and dropped the pen onto the table. He slowly stretched out his back with a groan and let out a breathy moan. A low chuckle from behind him had him whipping around and squeaking in surprise.

"Iruka-kun, Genma-kun! That's not nice," he whined as the two men chuckled again and put the bags of groceries in their arms down. "I also did buy food, you two, so really no need to bring more," he said. Standing up, he walked to the kitchen table and unrolled the scrolls before unsealing them. Bags of groceries filled the kitchen floor, one bag tipping over with a dull thump. "Along with much needed food for myself."

"We can see that," Genma teased, smiling. "Don't worry though, we brought mostly writing supplies and drinks with some flavorings. But I also brought along some of those eclairs that you love so much," he continued, tweaking Naruto's nose with a wink.

"Alright," Naruto sighed as he started to go through the first bag. Iruka started on another, finding the cold things to put away into the refrigerator. "Who's doing the first night shift again?"

Iruka tsked as he put away a carton of milk, giving him a long look. "Kotetsu is working tonight and you're doing it in three days," he said. Finding the bulk meat, he placed it onto a towel on the bottom of the refrigerator before standing up. "He does have the needed seals, so we just have to hope that things are safe enough for the night."

Naruto hummed and nodded, thinking about the temporary traps that they had laid out along with the new privacy seals. They hadn't been happy had finding the seals tampered with.

"Yep, he's right," Genma said, pulling Naruto away from his thoughts. The sandy haired man pulled out several bottles of rather good sake and placed them into Naruto's sake bowl. He found the small specialized heating plate and plugged it in the living room, sitting it on a small side table. Naruto came out a few minutes later as Genma set up the bottles, holding a bottle of water that he poured around the bottles. Once that was done, he left the older male to set up the heating plate, the sky outside threatening rain.

"Did he say what he was going to do?" Naruto asked as he moved to finish putting things away. Iruka hummed as he pulled out the various items that was for their dinner and snacks.

"Yeah, he said that he didn't mind pulling the short straw since he couldn't afford to really get drunk tonight anyways," Genma said. "He wants to play catch up on some files tomorrow even though it's his day off. So instead of two headaches, he just wants to deal with just the one."

"That's funny. I find the files easy to do," Naruto teased as he shooed Iruka out of the kitchen. With the food put away and the bags stored, he started working on dinner with his fellow desk workers watching him from the doorway.

"Yeah, but unlike you, we don't have bunshins to help us," Genma teased, smirking around his senbon at the rolled eyes.

"Yes, they do come in handy, don't they?" Naruto drawled as he pulled out a thin, sharp knife. He used it to skim off some of the fat from the roast that he had bought, wanting to try a recipe that he had gotten on his travels.

"Those lessons of your are starting to come in handy, aren't they?" Iruka asked, tilting his head as a knock came from the front door. Pushing off of the frame, he headed to answer it with a smirk.

"I'm learning just all sorts of things," Naruto hummed as he finished with the trimming. As he threw away the trimmings, Raidou and Izumo walked into the apartment, the scared man carrying the makings for breakfast and hangover cures.

"Do some of those things include making your tutor drool over more than a new recipe?" Raidou asked, getting a clueless look from Naruto. "Izumo-kun and I here ran across his cooking tutor on the way here. He asked us if you always wore such tight pants when you weren't working. The poor guy then went on to talk about how wonderful your ass was in said pants," he explained as he put away his groceries.

Naruto blushed heavily and turned back to his hunk of meat, placing it onto a small holed rack, adding water to the bottom. He pulled out carrots and potatoes, quickly cutting them into chunks before putting them in the pan. Once he was done with the roast and had covered it, he put it into the oven before washing his hands and utensils. He mostly ignored the conversation about his cooking tutor and his as he started to work on the snacks.

"You're all mean to me. I don't know why I cook for you," he finally pouted as he mixed powdered flavoring into a thick mix of regular yogurt and sour cream.

"No we're not and you love cooking," Raidou chuckled as he draped himself over Naruto's back. He wrapped his arms around the others lean waist and rested his chin on his shoulder. "We just like teasing you 'cause you blush oh so nicely when we do it," he said. He nuzzled one red whiskered cheek, getting a huff.

"Now I have to say that is a pretty, pretty picture," Genma purred, watching as his lover held their youngest close.

"Stop perving on him for a minute, you two, and read this," Iruka said from the coffee table, notebook in hand. "Naruto-kun, I take it you heard more rumors today while you were out?" he asked. Raidou pulled away from Naruto's back and joined his lover and friend at the coffee table, the three men reading over the pages.

"Yeah, when I was shopping this afternoon," Naruto answered as he poured the mix into a large bowl. He placed the slices of various types of cheeses, bell peppers, and crackers onto a large tray. "I was almost done anyways when I heard them, so I finished my shopping and got out of there. I came home right away and wrote down what I had with the help of Kurama. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since we had our meeting and inserted a few new rumors. But these rumors…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, we can see. They're getting way too close to the actual truth. Misleading rumors or not," Raidou sighed. He rubbed a hand through his hair, frowning at his friends.

"It almost looks as if we might have to have Ibiki-san use some of his ANBU to create a few rumors to create some heavy doubt. At least about these new ones," Iruka muttered. He hated having to do what they were talking about, but sometimes it was the only way to get the rumors to end.

Naruto paused in his arranging as a thought came to him. "Can someone check on my privacy seals?" he asked suddenly. Turning around on his heel, he frowned, mind whirling with worry. Genma and Raidou traded horrified looks before nearly running to the closest seals. The only time someone such as Naruto, who had a natural talent for seals, asked for help was when he wasn't sure why they were feeling off. Or why he was suddenly feeling worried about them.

It was a curse from Genma who was in the bedroom that brought the other Chunins to where he was scratching at a seal with a kunai. Most of the seals were hidden by various pictures or wall cloth, and the one he was working at had been hidden behind a small wall clock. "Fuckers used a tiny mark to turn them into listening seals," he snarled. Naruto just tilted his head and frowned, confusion in his eyes.

"As you know, there are a lot of privacy seals," Irkua started as Genma fully destroyed the seal and went back to looking. Raidou and Izumo moved to check the other seals, pulling out kunais of their own. "But there are ways to reverse them into a listening seal. Depending upon the seal and the modification, the user can be miles away, in the privacy of a room. They can be reading a scroll or even listening. If they're really good, they can be doing both."

"Do we have a guess as to how long my seals have been tampered with?" Naruto asked, his voice tense and squeaky.

"I would have to say no more than a month," Genma grunted as he destroyed another seal. He was buried in Naruto's closet and his voice was muffled but still understandable. "The ink has had time to bond with the paint. And I know for a fact that you just got your closet re-walled and re-painted just last month."

"Oh Gods," Naruto moaned. He buried his face into his hands, hiding his bright red face. "They probably heard me get off. And before _any_ of you say a damn thing, I don't exactly have a time for a relationship. That's including me finding a fuck buddy. At least not until I'm done with my training." He sighed and rubbed at his face. "And no, I don't want some one night stand. So me having fun alone in my room is a good way to dealing with stress." He sent a glared at the leering Genma.

"Does this mean that I can go through your toy drawer then?" Genma purred. He watched as Iruka and Naruto both turned brighter red, loving the view.

"No, that does not mean that. I'll do it, with gloves though," Iruka stated, shaking his head and calming the blush. Genma pouted at him but went back to work on finding and destroying the seals. Naruto sighed and walked back into the living room, watching as Raidou went over each seal with careful eyes.

"Raidou-san, do you think that if they have messed with my seals here, that they may have messed with the ones in your guys too?" Naruto asked. He jumped when Raidou's hand slipped, jamming his kunai into the wall instead of just scratching over the seals.

"Damn it," Izumo groaned as he came out of the kitchen, brushing off his kunai. "Guys, it looks like we're going to have to check our own seals. And make sure they didn't plaster any anywhere that we don't want them to be. Naruto is right, if they did it to his, they probably did it to ours too."

"All they would get from us is free porn and marital fluff," Genma said as he came out of the bedroom. Raidou grunted in agreement as he pulled his kunai free of the wall. Iruka came out nodding as he pulled off gloves, tossing them into the kitchen trash. "Whoever laid those marks in your bedroom, Naruto-kun, were good. They didn't leave any clues as to who it was. The marks looked generic but they have to be laid by hand."

"Damn, that does mean they are good. Along with that, the only time that I don't have enough traps and tricks to make the Archives look like a cake walk is when I'm out for a quick errand," Naruto sighed. "Or when I'm doing a short mission. During that time, Iruka-kun tends to watch over my place for me. Sometimes Shino-san," he continued, shaking his head.

"So whoever placed the marks had to wait a long time for the chance to do so since you've only done two small missions. At least since you painted and rebuilt that closet of yours," Izumo mused. "It's looking as if we really do need to come in and check the seals and any possible extras at our places. Might want them to hit up Naruto's place to just in case."

"We'll also need to speak with Tsunade-sama and go over every single room, in detail, of the Tower. Again. Just to be safe since we just did a quick run this time," Iruka stated. "We're going to be re-laying so many seals too. I hate laying those damn seals."

"We can have the person who does our apartments do most of the tower. Can we have them do the Archives though? Or do we have to do them ourselves?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arm.

"We're going to have to," Iruka replied. "And we can have someone do most of the rooms. Naruto-kun, can you send one of your frogs to Kotetsu with a note telling him what we found? He should be warned too."

"Sure, not a problem. Let me go do that. Can someone grab the food and check the sake?" Naruto asked, turning around on the ball of one foot.

In a dark room, a single candle sat on a round table next to a simple desk and a chair pushed the shadows back. A man sat in the chair, growling before he slammed his hands onto the desk, rattling the ink pot on the desk. His chair fell back with a loud clatter as he stood up sharply, glaring at the scroll before him.

"How did that little bitch find them? How!?" he yelled at the scroll. It had stopped recording the apartment at the time that Genma had cursed. The ability to listen in while reading had disappeared soon after, along with seal in the closet. "He is not going to like this. I may not live because of this," the man finally sighed. He rolled the long scroll up and left the room, eyes glinting with anger.

The candle guttered out as the door slid closed behind him, plunging the room back into blackness.


	8. Our Truth 8

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 8

Characters: Kotetsu, Gai, Tsunade, Naruto, Ibiki

Word count: 2,022

Warnings: Nonconsenual drugging

AN: Hello all my ghoulish lovelies! I hope you are enjoying this All Hallow's Eve and waiting for all that glorious candy to go on sale here.

I know I am.

I just wanted to say a few things before we start getting into the meat of the story.

Thank you. My gods, thank you so MUCH for the reviews and hits and kudos that you guys are giving me. Literally, every time I post a chapter, I end up having to shift through a page of new e-mails to make sure that I'm responding to everyone!

A few shoutouts: EmInArEvOl, you're a doll. *hugs* Your reviews make me so happy and I love our discussion. smint45 and the anons who review: I love you all. Thank you for your wonderful words. It makes me happy to see them come to my inbox. And of course my lovely, affy-chan. For without you, I wouldn't feel half as good about my stuff. *hugs*

To move on: Please remember that tomorrow is the start of National Novel Writing Month, so through November, you guys are to expect a single chapter a week for this story instead of two. I'm going to be starting at 12 midnight, and it's about 30 minutes after 12 noon here.

But for now: enjoy.

* * *

Sighing lowly to himself, Kotetsu stretched his arms over his head slowly and started to walk the halls of the Hokage Tower. He double checked all of the locks and traps that had been changed and laid out. They had also had to strip and reapply the privacy seals, finding marks that had turned them into broadcasting seals. It had been decided that at least one of the Hokage's personal Chunins would walk the halls at night while the night shift stayed in the mission room downstairs.

They all knew that it was mostly to make sure that everything was the way it was supposed to be.

Unfortunately for Kotetsu, he had been the one to draw the short straw and was the one working the first night shift. He didn't really mind since he didn't work the next day and he could survive for the night and get away with not sleeping until it was a normal hour. Thus he found himself working his way through the maze of hallways. His eyes took in every nook and cranny with quick scans as he moved from room to room, locking them back up behind him. Closing and locking the last room behind him, he headed for the break room. They had installed some new cameras and monitors that waited to be watched with boredom but would help.

Flopping into the padded seat once he had locked himself into the room, he scanned over the walls and the seals that were his silent warning system. He found them intact and turned his eyes to the monitors, finding nothing going off on those. Nodding his head, he pulled out his paperwork, pen, ink pad, notes, and stamp before settling in to work. He flipped through the pages and filled out what he could, stamping when he finished with a page and laying it facedown to the side. When he finished with the first packet of papers, he tucked them into their folders and placed the folders into a file box.

It didn't take him long to finish off the large amount of paperwork and reports between his rounds around the tower. As the sun started to peek over the horizon outside, he placed his file box onto a seal in the now empty mission room to be dealt with later. It was as he was watching the seal glow diminish that a pinprick to the back of his neck sent a rush of adrenalin through him. He swung back but found air as his body went limp, sliding to the floor, and his vision blurred. His last thought was that he was glad that things were locked down so tightly, and that all the traps and seals had been replaced.

The sound of the unlocking back door filled the quietness of the supply room, Naruto sighing. He disabled the traps with a flick of his wrist before smiling over his shoulder and waving the finished report at his companion. "You do realize that you are very lucky that it's my turn to do the early morning shift right?" he asked, closing the door behind himself and Gai.

"I figured that I am quite lucky with this fact, Naruto-san," Gai stated, voice boisterous even in the early morning. Naruto mentally mourned his nice quiet morning going down the tube as he lead the way to the connecting break room. He frowned heavily and looked around, noting that Kotetsu wasn't coming to greet them, putting him on edge. "Naruto-san?" came the soft query from behind him.

"I need you to stay here, Gai-san, and to stop anyone that is not supposed to be here," Naruto instructed. He left the break room and walked into the mission room, finding Kotetsu sprawled out on the floor. He looked unconscious and made him curse as he ran over to him. "Gai-san! Get someone from medical! We have a man down!" he called out. Picking up one wrist, he checked the pulse before checking it by pressing two fingers to his friend's neck. He found that it was strong but a bit fast, he bit his bottom lip and patted at his friends cheek.

"That will not be needed, Uzumaki-san," Ibiki stated as he walked in with a fuming Tsunade behind him. The two had undertones of worry in their looks as they took in Naruto and Gai as the man came into the mission room. "Did you just arrive?" he asked.

Naruto stood and moved away from Kotetsu so that the Hokage could check over the drugged man. "Yes actually. I arrived at the back door and found Gai heading around to the front, so I brought him in through the back. After I disabled the traps, we walked into the break room and I felt something was wrong seeing as Kotetsu didn't call out even a greeting," Naruto stated. He watched as Tsunade pulled on gloves and ran lightly glowing hands over Kotetsu's head. "I instructed Gai-san to stay there while I checked for anything odd. I found him on the ground and instructed Gai-san to call for someone when you walked in." He ran a hand through blond hair. "Why are you here anyway?"

"A seal went off in the hokage's office while we were in a meeting," Tsunade stated, sitting back on her heels. "He's drugged asleep but he'll be fine. Naruto, take Ibiki-san and make sure that nothing has been removed or changed. I want a full, detailed report from you," she told them.

Naruto nodded his head and left the room with Ibiki following after him. He took his time, running his eyes over the places he knew were hidden seals. Ibiki watched as he worked slowly, taking his time in checking the seals. He had to admire the methodical way that he moved, his training shining through.

"Come on, there's nothing that's missing here," Naruto said. He walked down the hallway, checking each door to make sure that it was still locked for the moment and that the seals were untouched. Ibiki followed after, memorizing each area that they walked past and following him up the stairs.

Once they came to the door that would lead up to the Archive, Naruto went from easy going but worried to annoyed nin. He narrowed his eyes and started to run, taking a moment to gaze into the room that an open door lead to. He noted that the lock hadn't been picked but moved on. He headed up the small stairwell to the Archive and cursed creatively at finding the traps sprung but no one caught in them.

Sliding into the small hallway that had six doors to choose from, Naruto ignored the still following Ibiki and checked each door. Behind them, he found each of the traps tripped, but once more empty. "I take it that this person is really good?" the interrogator asked lowly when they came to another room. The other rooms were small, about the size of a janitors closet, but this one was bigger. About the size of a half bathroom and it had a single window. All of the traps were tripped, but instead of just empty traps, there were kunai embedded in the walls, floor and ceiling. "Who set up this one?" he asked.

"It's my trap, one that I created with Iruka-san's approval. It looks like the idiot didn't find the right door to the Archives though and left through the window. I'm guess as Gai-san and I arrived," Naruto mused as he walked around the embedded kunai. Coming to stand before the window, he pushed it open and peeked out of it, finding no one on the outside. He sighed and pulled back, closing and locking the window. "Damn it. There's no patrols in this area right now so whoever it was slipped away. Fuck."

"We still should check the Archives," Ibiki said. Naruto nodded in agreement, picking his way around the kunai again. Closing the door behind them, he lead the large man to the right door. Pulling out a kunai, he pricked his pointer finger and swiped the blood down over the door frame. He watched as the seals glowed before becoming just black ink once more. The blood had disappeared. "Blood seals. I take it that they are connected only to those who have access to the Archives and the Hokage only?" he asked, looking to the smaller male.

Naruto nodded his head with a slight smile. "Yep. Anyone else tries that and they'll turn the seals into a transportation seal, landing in one of your cells," Naruto drawled as he pushed open the door and stepped inside. He ran his eyes over the various tricks, traps and seals, finding everything in one piece and nodding his head. He turned around and pricked his healed finger once more, swiping it over another cell and watching the blood disappear along with the seal. "We're good," he hummed, stepping back out and closing the door, sealing the door with more blood and a bit of chakra. "Come on, lead the way. I need to lock down the other doors here so we can get someone in to really look at the traps and rooms."

"I'll send out a bird and have one of my higher ANBU come over," Ibiki stated, heading down the hall and stopping at each door. Naruto closed and firmly locked each door with a master key and some chakra. "I take it that they will need to have one of the specialized Chunin to have full access?"

"Yep," Naruto chuckled as they walked down the stairs. Walking into the main break room across from the mission room, they found Kotetsu sitting up in a chair. He was holding his head as he groaned softly into his hands. "How are you feeling there, Kotetsu?" he asked, moving over to the kettle and hot pot.

"My head feels like I got hammered last night. But Hokage-sama said that it's pretty normal for the drug that was used on me," Kotetsu grunted, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I didn't even feel the guy come up on me, not even a flutter of chakra. I also didn't catch a good look at him. All I felt was the pinch of a needle in my neck and then I'm going down as I move to attack."

"He'll feel better after he rests for the day. He is going to need to be watched over but Gai-san has agreed to do it since Izumo is working today," Tsunade stated. She held out a cup with a tea bag in it already when the kettle whistled at Naruto. Naruto just rolled his eyes and poured some hot water into it.

"You want to tell me just how you got here so fast?" Kotetsu asked finally. Naruto gazed at Tsunade and Ibiki with some curiosity as he made his friend some tea. Tsunade cleared her throat and looked a bit sheepish as she added sugar to her own tea.

"As you well know, my special Chunin who work directly under me are given new hiates. They're different then others," she started, clearing her throat once more. "Each one has a specialized seal on the back of the faceplate that monitors my people. This is done because you're in line to be hurt first to get to me or the Archives. There's a reason why you have to bring it in to replace the cloth."

"You weren't lying when you said a seal went off in your office huh?" Naruto sighed, Tsunade shaking her head. "So we carry around these monitoring seals where ever we go and never knew about it?"

"Every Kage does it in some way or another. We have to protect our desk Chunin after all," Tsunade chuckled. Kotetsu and Naruto both moaned and Gai looked rather confused about the conversation going on. Ibiki just sighed and rubbed at his face, mentally cursing his luck about being in such a position.


	9. Our Truth 9

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 9

Characters: Naruto, Izumo, Kotetsu, Ibiki, Iruka, Tsunade

Word count: 1,579

Warnings: nothing

AN: I was supposed to post this _yesterday_ but I was so damn exhausted that it didn't happen.

Hell, it was supposed to be posted last Monday but apparently I forgot in the haze of food shopping and a cold slinking up on me. I just got back my damn voice Sunday. Losing it yet again though since yesterday my cold made a resurgance while I was accompanying my friend up to her appointment for a pain treatment.

I was Casper the Fucking Ghost.

When I got home yesterday, I decided to lay down for a few minutes, suck on some poweraid, and make the world stop spinning.

I think I woke once about 12, went to the bathroom and crashed again. I just got back up. It is now about 11AM my time. Yeah.

Still feel like shit but at least I'm less Casper like this time.

So enjoy.

* * *

"Do we know what was done?" Tsunade gazed over her collection of special Chunins. She took in their tired appearances and the way even Naruto was slumped in his seat.

"From what was learned by the ANBU who came to go over the rooms that are the false positives, they concluded that the guy was after scrolls. Any scrolls since he took the food scrolls that we left for our lunches," Iruka sighed, hiding a yawn behind one hand. His hair was skewed to one side, hanging limply in the hair tie. "We think he was looking for information scrolls on the Archives. But any scrolls like that aren't even in the same building."

"What do you mean by that?" Ibiki growled from his corner. Naruto just yawned at the dangerous sound. Even being a stamina freak didn't stop him from feeling exhausted after their long day and night.

He waved a hand. "It means that they're on a bit of land that the Yondaime dedicated to hiding them," Naruto sighed. "It's on the land that was left to me when he died. Only me, Iruka, and Tsunade can get on the land anyways."

"Why only you three? And why on that land?" Ibiki asked. He frowned heavily as he scowled and stared down the sleepy blond.

"Dude, really?" Naruto sighed, sounding exhausted. "Okay, look, no matter what anyone says, Iruka-san is head Chunin and thus the only one who knows all sort of shit. Tsunade is the Hokage, so obviously she gets to know it, but also because she's trustworthy. And me?" He smirked. "Well, I'm the last Namikaze in this village and therefore have the deeds to the land. This includes the bit of land that the unit is stored under. To get to the room you have to enter the house and go through a chakra sealed door."

"I...see," Ibiki drawled, looking to Tsunade, who shrugged at him. "And when did you learn this?"

"Despite the council's tries to stop it, when he turned sixteen, Jiraiya laid it all out to him," Tsunade stated. The Chunins yawned, ignoring the two talking, already knowing the history of their youngest. "As stated by Minato, he was told by his godfather on his sixteenth birthday. Mostly because by the time he turned eighteen, he had to know how to be a clan head."

"And this includes both Namikaze and Uzumaki names," Naruto hummed, rubbing at his head. "Can we get through the rest of this meeting?" he asked. "I want to actually get some sleep today. I've already got Genma to take my shift since I'm already running on nearly twenty-four hours of no sleep."

"Fine. What are we going to do to make sure this doesn't happen again?" Ibiki asked, tilting his head to the side. He looked to Iruka who had flopped down onto the chair, sighing as he flipped through his pages.

"We're going to have to have one of your ANBU with heavy duty seal knowledge come in and lay fresh seals on the walls of the Archive. Mind you, we have the knowledge of the needed seals, but we don't really have the time to take our sweet time laying them. We know that your ANBU can do transfer seals but none of us have quite mastered that art," he said, looking to Naruto. "Though Naruto is on that edge of it."

Ibiki grunted and pulled out a small notepad, writing down the information. "I can do that," he said, nodding his head.

"We're also going to need guards who don't need to go out. They'll be paid the usual for being a guard, but we need them unfortunately," Izumo said around yawns that escaped from him. "Jounin who can be trusted only I think. We can save ourselves, easily, but we still need that backup since we're always busy while working."

"I'll look at the files and figure out who can do this. You might have to buddy up for a while until we find enough though," Ibiki said.

Iruka waved a hand as his other hand hid his own yawning. "That's fine. We have some people for the positions first. Gai-san and Asuma-san have both done highly classified missions. Raidou and Genma are covered well enough with each other and no one wants to deal with those senbon that they use to trick their traps with. Izumo and Kotetsu live together, so they'll need one Jounin. Naruto and I are moving in together for the time being. He's having to clean out his house anyways, despite the fact that it hasn't been officially announced that he's taking the clan head position."

"I see," Ibiki rumbled, making a note to have Gai and Asuma sign contracts about what they learned as guards. Until Naruto was ready to tell the village just who he was, they would need to keep their mouths shut. "Are you against ANBU watching you guys? Or patrolling the area around your homes?" he asked.

"Not around my family home. There's too many seals that they would have to be keyed into," Naruto yawned, slowly stretching. "I can key in one or two people into them but not a frickin' squad of them. I've keyed in Iruka-san, Genma-san, Izumo-san, Tsunade-san, Raidou-san, and Kotetsu-san into the land seals so far. But everyone else has to announce their presence at the wall or at the gate with a bit of chakra and blood if they're not already keyed into the gate seals," he continued, standing up. "I can also key you in but that'll have to wait until I can see straight."

"Very well. I'll send a bird to you when we have your guard contracted. We'll need your usual schedules, or duties that you attend to day to day so that we can cover it all. I suggest you have a room set up for them," Ibiki rumbled.

"Not a problem, Ibiki-san. Another thing that we will need to do to be prepared is to have new traps set up to deter the idiot who tried to get in. We're going to be getting nasty though with them," Kotetsu finally said, the only one who looked awake. He had gone home and slept off the drug used on him before coming back that morning, ready to pull a double shift so that Iruka could sleep. "Genma is working on some interesting paralytics and poisons that won't kill. Make them sicker than hell even with just skin contact." He smirked.

"You don't fuck around with my traps damn it. And you sure as hell don't fuck with my friend," Iruka grumbled. Ibiki stared at him with wide eyes, tilting his head to the side before looking to the snickering Naruto.

"Iruka-san is a mother bear when it comes to his precious people, Ibiki-san," Naruto stated as he reached down. Tugging on Iruka's shirt, blue eyes turned to the bald man and pink lips twitched into a smile. "We're going to head out now to the house. Keep your people off the land though unless it's absolute emergency until I can show you where it's safe to guard."

"I'll make sure I do that," Ibiki promised, watching the two males leave the room, eyes watching Naruto.

Kotetsu snickered from his spot as he watched the interrogation expert watch Naruto with such thoughtful eyes. "I can tell you right now, Naruto is a mystery wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a mystery topped with a mask made out of sunshine and rainbows. At least to those who somehow don't get close to him. But that's a bit like ramming into a brick wall with a kunai if you're not careful."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ibiki growled, glaring at the other man and getting a snicker.

"It means that he'll get ya to spill your guts without you even realizing it," Izumo groaned, standing up with a small stagger. "He's good at annoying you to actually talking without meaning to. Kid could have gone into your division but he likes where he is right now. Can put his skills to good use against the Jounins who keep trying to fuck with their reports," he chuckled.

"I see," Ibiki hummed, watching the two Chunins leave after bowing to the Hokage. "I think that there is a lot of unknown factors about your Chunin."

"I know you respect them, but even you still underestimate them," Tsunade stated, starting to shuffle around papers. Finding what she needed, she filled in the request of a meeting before sending it off. "We all do sometimes. They play their parts so well that it's hard to remember that they are fully trained shinobi that could have been Jounins if they so wanted to be. We are lucky though that they decided to stay in their positions because it means that we have some of the best defenders around."

"And they mostly don't even have to leave," Ibiki snorted, Tsunade smirking at him as she pulled out two cups and a sake bottle.

"Exactly." Pouring some of the sake into the cups, she held one out. "Want some? After dealing with a tired Naruto who doesn't want to deal with shit, we both could use some."

Ibiki eyed the cup before sighing. "Yeah, sounds good."


	10. Our Truth 10

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 10

Characters: Danzo, unnamed ROOT member

Word count: 1,680

Warnings: nothing

AN: Am I actually on TIME with this chapter? Why yes, yes I am. I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. It turned out to be rather interesting because we're seeing just what is going on with Danzo.

And just who is this ROOT member? You'll just have to wait. *chuckles* Don't worry, it'll be interesting in the long run. And answers will come.

I promise.

But for now, enjoy!

* * *

Staring at the scroll that sat unrolled on his desk, Danzo frowned at it, tapping his fingers on the desk around the scroll. It read as if the Chunin were smarter than they actually were, which was damn near impossible. He knew that they were far from smart, so it kind of made him wonder just how they had ended up discovering the tampered seals in their apartments.

Growling softly at that thought, the heavily scarred man started to pace around his office, free hand rubbing at his chin as he thought. He snarled at the silent shadow standing in one corner, his ROOT agent not even flinching at the sound. Taking a deep breath to get himself back under control, he took his seat again, and leant back in his seat, staring towards his agent with his eye.

"Tell me, in detail, just how this fiasco happened," he instructed his man. The masked nin stepped towards the desk and out of the shadows.

"I was watching the conversation and listening, as you have instructed me to, hoping to learn something beyond their strategies for cooking vegetables," the man stated. "Suddenly, it seems that their youngest asked if they would look at the seals for his apartment. Apparently they could tell that the seals had been tampered with and then proceeded to destroy it of them."

"And have you been able to return to the apartments to reapply the alternations to the new seals yet?" Danzo asked, taking notes and thinking.

"Unfortunately, not as of yet, Danzo-san," the man admitted, shaking his head. "The altered seals along with the failed attempt to get access to the Archives have left them all in a state of high alert. Their home traps have also been changed, and no one but those that are in their main group know what kind of traps they are. Or how they are set up. Not even the Uzumaki's so called teammates know about them," he continued. "It is becoming increasingly frustrating to say the least."

"Yes, I suppose that it can be as such," Danzo sighed. He rubbed at his bandaged face in frustration, trying to think of a way that they could fix things. "Damn. What to do now?"

Staring at the scroll, he thought over the past scrolls and what they had held from past conversations between the Chunin's in their apartments. He wasn't very happy about the fact that the seals had been found, but he had never gotten anything very useful from the twitter-brained Chunin's when they got together. All he had ever gotten from those times had been some new ways to make vegetables interesting to eat.

Frowning at the thought that started to niggle at him, pushing its way to the forefront of his brain. Danzo glared down at the scroll. "Send someone to our archives and gather the other scrolls for me. I think we may need to look at something. And make it quick."

"Yes, sir," the agent said, bowing before he turned on his heel. He left the office and found a ROOT nin that had been on their way to their rooms, stopping them. Instructing him on what he needed to gather, he sent the man on his way and waited in the hallway. As soon as the nin had gathered the scrolls that were needed and had delivered them with the help of another ROOT nin, he left. They were alone once more.

Danzo and his nin unrolled the various conversations, going over them and comparing them to one another.

"Damn it. They were and are speaking in codes. And rather good codes to," Danzo growled. He was amazed at the fact that the supposed twitter-brained Chunins could actually do such a thing. "Even in the privacy of their own damn homes, they speak in codes." He shook his head as a smirk tugged at his lips. "Just how smart are they?" he mused.

The man across from him just shook his head, amazed at what they were seeing. "I really have no idea, sir. I have always thought that it was the Hokage who created the traps that are used for the Archives, but now it is starting to make think otherwise."

"I am suddenly having a very bad feeling that those pet Chunin of hers do the actual planning for the traps. What my question is, is just how do they keep those secrets from everyone else?" Danzo asked, thinking quickly about how they could keep such information hidden from so many high classed nin's so easily. Sitting back in his chair, he stared at the conversation scroll before him and caught sight of a name that made his hackles rise up in anger and worry. "I think I know how those damn Chunin's have been able to keep their fucking secrets. They learned how they needed to do it."

"Oh? How so, sir?" the agent asked him, looking up from his own scroll. He gazed at his boss as the man sighed and slumped back down into his chair.

"I can tell you that they learned how to do so from Ibiki-san and he is still teaching them or updating what they know even now," Danzo grunted. He rubbed at his face once again, feeling his bandages under his face, growling softly. "Which is not a good thing if this is true."

"And why would you say that?" the agent asked him, already pulling out paper to take notes. He had a feeling that the night would end up being a long one.

"Ibiki-san, despite his relatively young age, is an interrogation expert, remember that. And he's a Tokubetsu Jounin. He damn well knows how to lock a mind up tighter than a Hyuuga's ass," Danzo grunted. "He's very good at teaching his techniques on top of that. And they _are_ his techniques mind you. He's taken mind traps to a whole new level of dangerous. There is an unconfirmed rumor that Inochi Yamanaka gave him his base start when he was just starting out as an interrogator. He's only had time and experience to expand on that since then," he continued. He could feel the frown coming from his expressionless agent and felt the question that was bound to come with it.

"Sir, if Ibiki-san is indeed the one who has trained them in the mind arts, what does that mean for us?" the agent asked.

Danzo sighed and slumped even further in his seat as he squinted down at the scrolls. "It means that the lot of them are smarter than they actually seem," he stated. "They're able to hide the truth of what they know. And they can do it from anyone watching them. I believe that the only ones who really know just how smart they are, are the Chunins themselves. I doubt that even Tsunade knows how smart they are."

"I'm afraid to ask, but do you think that it's for their protection, this hiding?" the agent asked. Danzo frowned and unrolled the closest scroll that sat before him a bit more, thinking. The agent returned to his own scroll and started to make notes about what he had read and what codes he had found. He had gotten more than halfway through the scroll when Danzo finally broke the silence.

"I do believe that with the fact that they kept such secrets is to keep them safe. And it's not just for them, but for the secrets that they most likely hold in their heads to," he said. The agent looked up from his note taking and looked over to his boss. "But I think that it's more than that. I think that there is something more than what we know right now." He frowned again. "At least when it comes to the Archives and the Chunins."

"I suppose that we really do need to get into the Archives, don't we?" the agent sighed. He sounded as annoyed as someone without any emotions could sound. Reaching out, he found himself some fresh paper and started to draw out a layout of the outer rooms that he had actually seen. Danzo merely smirked at him.

"Yes. Unfortunately for us, we do need to get into that room one way or the other, and it's going to be hard." Danzo sat back once more and bit at his inner cheek in thought. "I need you to get Owl for me first though. I believe that you will be able to best get into the Archives for us. Maybe he will be able to get further than you into them."

"We can only hope so," came the reply from the ROOT nin. Standing up, the agent gathered up his papers before he stalked out of the room, his notes in hand.

He was seething silently, wondering just how much he was going to have to deal with in regards to Danzo before his true master called out to him to have him return to his side. The old fox in the office only wanted to know what was going on in the Archives and what knowledge that it was that they had hidden away. He hated not knowing everything.

But his master, his true master, was after something so much more valuable considering what they were.

He wanted the jutsu scrolls that had been labeled dangerous and hidden away. He wanted the information that they kept on all of the clans within the village.

He wanted to know their members, who married who and when.

He wanted their numbers.

He wanted their abilities.

He wanted their every _weakness_.

And even though he didn't know why he wanted that information, he would do whatever he could do to fulfill his masters need.

Danzo was a fool. A smart one but a fool nonetheless. And he was still useful to him for the time being, so he would continue to use his position.


	11. Our Truth 11

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 11

Characters: Gai, Iruka, Naruto

Word count: 1,833

Warnings: nothing

AN: So this here is the start of me returning back to 2 chapters of this story a week so enjoy this fact.

Really. Once it comes to April, it's back to once a Week because of Camp National Novel Writing Month and then July for the next round. Hopefully I'll have something done after this story is done.

I should have something actually. Maybe just a short 16 story though since I'm trying to keep my mini's under 15 chapters.

I know that I didn't post anything last week but I was alternating between being amazingly sick, amazingly busy, and in amazing amounts of pain. Literally, had to refill my prescriptions which is odd for me.

And yesterday was spent sleeping. Damn freezing weather and snowbirds! My issues are making me have a bad week. I'm sitting here with my blue Christmas lights, I don't want to see actual light that much!

I'm hoping to get back into a schedule from now on though.

Anyways! Enjoy!

* * *

Staring at the rather broad Jounin that stood in the living room before him, Iruka sighed and rubbed at his face in annoyance. "Gai-san," he started. He ended up being blinded by a beaming smile aimed at him from the other man. Another sigh escaped him as he shot a glare at the closed bedroom door of Naruto's room in jealousy. The other Chunin had run into his bedroom the moment that Gai had arrived at their shared apartment. "You do realize that you were supposed to meet us at the gate yes? Not here."

"Of course, Umino-san, but I wished to extend my help to my youthful comrades in the moving," Gai boomed.

Iruka silently groaned, his fingers rubbing at his temples, already feeling his eyebrows twitch. "Gai-san, I can already tell you that outside of our kitchen supplies and beds, everything in the apartment is a part of it, and I am keeping this apartment for after this is dealt with. Our things have, for the most part, been put into sealing scrolls to transport," he stated. Gai frowned down at him. "We did tell you that we were already prepared to move and to meet you where we told you to wait."

"Umino-san, I have to admit that I did not only wish to help you with your packing, but I also wished to discuss where we are going," Gai stated. He looked down at the blank faced Chunin. He wondered just when the normally sweet male before him had perfected such a face before he forcibly reminded himself that Iruka was a shinobi just as he was, and a good one to.

"I take it that Morino-san and Hokage-sama did tell you just where we are going to be staying, correct?" Iruka asked him, tilting his head. Gai nodded in response. "And you have signed the needed blood contract, knowing full well what you are learning is sealed and signed?"

In return, Gai simply pulled up his left sleeve to expose the muscled expanse of his arm. On the tanned skin was a small red swirl that had a blood drop hanging from the end of the swirl. It was faintly glowing with new power as it settled in connection to Gai's chakra and blood. "He has explained that no matter what happens, I am to keep my mouth shut about anything and everything that I end up seeing in regards to you and yours," he said.

Iruka nodded his head, smiling in approval. "Good. Now, what was it that you wanted to ask me?" he asked.

"Are you sure about moving into this house? From what I was able to figure out, there isn't much known about it. Or the land that surrounds it," Gai said, shifting on his feet. He frowned down at the other man.

Iruka smiled and shook his head, quite obviously amused by the man. "Gai-san, the land around the house is protected by specialized blood seals. They had been laid there by the original owner of the land and house and are still quite strong. I highly doubt that anyone will be getting onto the land without the express permission of Naruto. And even if they do, they will only be able to get onto certain parts of it," he explained.

Naruto's door finally opened up and the young Chunin stepped out of the room, a scroll that, when placed standing up, would come up to his hip, in his hand. He smiled at the two men. "Gai-san, my father was the one who placed most of the seals down around and on the property before I was thought of, much less born. He placed even more down when he married my mother. And then more when they discovered that I was to be born." He huffed. "He had some very powerful enemies and because of the fact that I'm his son, so do I if they find out about me," Naruto stated. "I promise you, the land is very well protected, Gai-san. This is why you were to meet us at the gate."

"Apparently he was unsure about the protections that are on the land," Iruka drawled as he shook his head with a smile. "Do you have everything that you need packed up and ready?" he asked.

"I have it all, Iruka-kun, no problems. Gai-san, are you ready to leave now?" Naruto asked, looking to the man. Gai nodded his head and watched as Iruka gathered his own scroll, the three men leaving the apartment. They quickly took to the rooftops, working their way over the wires and poles that had been put up for the use of the village's nins.

Landing down next to a well built wall that faintly glowed with the seals etched into the stone, Gai blinked at it before he looked back and forth between the wall and Naruto. "There's no actual gate?"

"There is actually, but it's fairly well hidden," Naruto replied. He shifted his scroll on his back as he reached down, pulling a kunai from his pouch. Slicing his hand, he cupped it so that he could catch the welling blood, reaching out to smear the blood onto the wall and seals, making them glow brightly. "Gai-san, if you could cut your hand to and smear your own blood on the seals, you will be keyed into the wardings. I added Iruka when I took over the care of the land as owner and started working as a desk Chunin. So all we need to do is you."

Gai's eyes took in the way that the seals pulsed, almost as if in time with a heartbeat before he pulled out his own kunai. Slicing his hand, he cupped it to and watched as his blood filled the palm of it before smearing it over the seals to. He felt them tap a bit into his chakra, tasting it for lack of better term. It was an odd feeling, and made him blink as he pulled his hand back, the seals glowing steadily and the blood pulled into them. Iruka made a considering noise and took Gai's cut hand into his own, using a bandage from one of his many pockets to clean the blood off

"There, all done," Iruka said as he used the bit of medical jutsu that he knew to heal the wound, leaving behind a very slim scar on Gai's hand. "Now that you're keyed in, take a look at the wall."

Gai raised an eyebrow at him and looked from his hand that he had been staring at to looking to where the wall was. Naruto was smirking at him, his hand on the simple gate and the metal woven together to look much like bricks, the seals still on it. "What?" he breathed.

"Blood genjutsu. The seals are interwoven to project the sight of a wall to all those who aren't a part of the wardings. The top of the gate is actually flat so that those running along the wall won't really notice," Naruto told him as he pointed to the top of the gate. "Come on, the house is this way. I do suggest that you stick to any and all paths of the land, okay?"

"I can do that," Gai said, stepping through the gate with the two. Iruka closed the door behind him as they stood on the entry path. Now that he was keyed into the wards, the Jounin could see the shimmer of the genjutsu as it went up once more after them. "Your father was much better at seals then is thought, wasn't he?" he asked, looking to Naruto as some of the puzzle came together.

Naruto smiled at that and nodded. "Oh yes, he was. He learned how to carve into all sorts of material just so that he could use them to build his seals and make sure that they would stick. He actually carved marble into seals and planted them in the wall after he hollows out some of the stones. They keep things settled and it's highly unlikely that they'll ever wear away in their protective casings," he explained as they strolled down the path towards his house.

"And should the wall ever be attacked?" Gai asked, taking in the woods around them as they walked. He could tell that there were several animals up in the trees, watching them, and wondered what animals the land had on it.

"Stabilizing seals are buried under all of the corners of the wall," Naruto told him, smiling softly as they stepped into the clearing. In the middle of it stood the house that they would be living in for the foreseeable future. It wasn't anything amazing, just a two story structure that looked as if it had quite a bit of square footage to it. Which was a good thing considering that both Naruto and Iruka preferred their privacy when it came to some things. "Come on, you two. Let's head inside."

Iruka smiled at the staring Gai as he followed after Naruto, walking up the four steps that lead onto the wrap around, enclosed porch. Following after the two, Gai closed the screen door and watched as the seals around it briefly flared before they once more disappeared. "He was very, very good," he breathed out admiringly. Naruto sent a smirk over his shoulder as he ran a finger over one panel in the door.

Once more, seals flared to life before a click followed it, allowing Naruto to open the door for them. "Usually we just use the lock on the house, but with everything that is going on, it's best to use the seals. You'll also be able to disarm the seals on the doors and gates now that you've been keyed into them, but they will tell when you come and go," he warned the Jounin as they stepped into the front hall.

From where he was standing, Gai could see that the house was sprawling, open and done in simple styles. But under the prettiness of the hardwood floors and the light blue paint job with decorative white trim, he could feel the seals as they assessed him and found him to be who he was. Gai smirked at Naruto, Iruka staring up at him, the scarred Chunin looking as if he was putting something together. Naruto simply smiled smugly at the both of them.

"I think that this house is a good place to be safe. Show me where I will be sleeping?" Gai asked them, smiling brightly but not as badly as he usually did.

Iruka shot an amused looking Naruto a dark glare for not warning him about Gai, before he nodded and smiled. "Come along, Gai-san. We do have to unpack so I might as well show you to your room on the way to my own."


	12. Our Truth 12

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 12

Characters: Gai, Asuma, Kakashi, Anko, Neji, Lee

Word count: 1,652

Warnings: Nothing yet

AN: Finally, a chapter that is on time! I swear. I hope to stay on time now that I'm not running around like a chicken without it's head on. Blah and all that.

But we are moving into the plot quite nicely. :D I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Sitting in the mission room on the two couches offered, the two men stared at the side door that the Chunin had disappeared into earlier. Asuma huffed before standing and moving to a window on the far wall, pushing it open before he pulled out a cigarette. Gai raised an eyebrow at his friend and had to ask. "Are they driving you into insanity, my friend?" Asuma groaned and rubbed at his face.

"Yeah. Like you would not believe. These guys have codes for their fucking codes, I'm tellin' ya. And they all have some kind of psychic thing going on for them where they don't even have to _talk_ to discuss things," Asuma groaned, rubbing at his face. "But they also know shit, and they're very smart. Like scary smart. Which is kind of surprising because you really don't see them being scary smart day to day."

"This is quite true," Gai hummed, turning his attention back to the door and shifted on the couch, huffing with amusement. "Naruto-san is often studying something or another when he is not training with Iruka-san or working. Both of them are very smart, but hide things. It's odd having to figure out what they've hidden or what they're still hiding away."

"Who is hiding what behind what now?" Kakashi asked as he strolled into the mission room. He was looking decidedly dirty and ruffled after his mission.

"It looks like you got caught in that rain storm there, Kakashi," Anko drawled as she followed after the man. Her own mission partner Neji looked rather on the unhappy side as he wrung out his long hair. "Just like we did. Or at least the tail end of it."

"I got caught in it when it was just starting. Lee headed to the bathroom to change out of his current outfit since they do tend to get a bit heavy when soaking wet. And he really didn't want to leave behind puddles of water," Kakashi drawled.

"Unlike what? The tracks of mud that some poor Genin is going to have to clean up?" Asuma chuckled from his place.

"Better mud than water. At least it'll dry out enough to be swept up," Kakashi chirped. "Now, answer my question would ya? Who is hiding what behind what?" he asked as Lee walked in, changed and holding a small plastic bag with a wet uniform in it.

"We were discussing our Chunin charges actually. They are currently in the Archives, filing things away, but we have been watching them while we've been guarding them," Gai finally said. He smiled at the four as they found their own places to sit. "They are amazingly smart, but they seem to also enjoy hiding it. They also know more than they actually show."

"Of course they do." Anko, Neji, Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma all swung their eyes to stare at the smiling Lee, who stared at them in returned. "All Chunin know more than they let on. Especially those who are career Chunins. I too was pulled aside one day to talk about options and I asked about a career Chunin's life," he admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "Shikamaru probably knows more but he has no real urge to work the Archives so he doesn't know it all."

"Of course he would know this," Neji sighed as he shook his head with an amused look on his face. At the questioning looks he got, he shrugged his shoulders, settling back in his chair and crossing his legs. "He's smart, like the Chunins. And like them, sometimes scarily so. It's just a matter of getting him to admit those smarts," he continued. "But he's also very observant which does help."

"I learned long ago that people tend to underestimate me because I'm like a much smaller version of Gai-sensei. But I'm also smart, like our teacher. Not Neji smart, or even book smart, but people and street smart. I was an orphan after all, and I only joined the academy because my family had at one time been part of the nin force. But my mother died on a mission and my father had been dead nearly eight months before I was born. I didn't know about that until after I turned sixteen though and could get to my records," Lee admitted. "I get my looks from my father, or at least most of them. The eyebrows and eyes come from a mix of some interesting family members in my family history."

"See? He's scary smart," Neji sighed, waving a hand at his usual mission partner and former Genin teammate. "You get used to that kind of thing coming out of his mouth every so often." He sent a dry look to Gai. "Kind of like when Gai-sensei is actually comfortable or just too tired to really do anything."

"You have no idea just how active these Chunin are," Gai chuckled as he shook his head, smiling at the memories. "They get up nearly half an hour before I do so that they can get out and run before coming back to the house an hour later. Then they shower, change, make breakfast, and eat. After that, if they have a few minutes, they do some last minute paperwork before they gather everything up and go to their jobs for the day."

"Izumo-san and Kotetsu-san are both the same way," Asuma huffed in amusement as he flicked the ash off of his cigarette. "They tend to do morning shift at the front gate, instead of the academy. They used to do short missions to some of the outer posts before their afternoons at the mission desk, but they're stuck in the village at the moment because of all of this," Asuma snorted.

"Iruka-san and Naruto-san both work with children at the Academy. I have been run ragged while working with those children, who apparently mostly calm down once they are under our guidance," Gai said, groaning as he let his head fall back onto the couch. Asuma snorted as he snuffed out his cigarette, adding a bit of chakra to the paper and flicking it as it went up in flames. "Those children, as much as they are the most Youthful I have ever seen, can drive even a saint to drink. I bow down to Iruka-san's and Naruto-san's ability in handling them with such ease."

"Oh yes, the Youthful children of our academy are filled with the Fire of Konohana to be nin of great worth," Lee brightly boasted, Neji sighing and reaching over to smack him upside the head.

"Not now. No youthfulness and all that right now please," Neji groaned at him. He shook his head as he started to dig around in his vest pockets and the various pouches on his person to find the small scroll that held his report. Finding it, he unsealed his report and started to go over it. "It is no wonder that the Chunin are hardly bowled over when they have to deal with grumpy nin," he mused. "Especially if they have to deal with brats on a sugar high. Or arrogant twits with delusions of grandeur."

"Were you one such arrogant twit with delusions of grandeur?" Kakashi asked from his place. He had decided to perch on a small table that usually held a vase. The vase was currently sitting under it while he sat on it, holding a report and pen in his hands.

"Just as much as you were at one time, Kakashi-san," Neji replied, sounding airy and bored as he went over his own report. Asuma, the surprisingly quiet Anko, Lee, and Gai all snorted over their own reports. "Have any of the others volunteered to watch over the desk Chunins? Even our dear tokubetsu Jounin have been put on that list right?" he asked.

"They are, at least when it comes to playing babysitter in the missions room," Asuma admitted, shrugging with a smile. "Why?"

"I'm considering of volunteering to help. I believe that I would have to be vetted, right?" Neji asked, looking to Gai.

"You would need to. Those who have volunteered so far haven't been approved, yet. Something usually stopped them from being of use," Gai said, shrugging with a bright smile. "I have no doubt that you would make a good guard for our dear Chunin friends," he gushed brightly. Neji just groaned and glared at his old sensei over his paperwork.

"I think that I'll join in on that," Anko finally said. The others looked at her in surprise. "I think something bigger is going on and will happen, so we need to do as much as we can do in preparation."

"She's right, you know," Neji sighed as he finished with his report. "Okay, so let's all join shall we? I think we can be of some help. I'll look around, see if others will be willing to help in keeping an eye out for our dear Chunin friends, as Lee and Gai-san have called them. It couldn't hurt to help them."

"He's right," Kakashi hummed as he smirked at his friends. "I'll join in too. It won't hurt to be in the village for a few days here and there after all."

"So, we'll fill out the paperwork and offer our services," Neji stated, Gai and Asuma smiling at them as Lee was set off about 'youthful flames' and 'fires of strength within our lovely Chunin companions'.

Walking back into the mission room with a list in his hands, Naruto went still as he stared at the gushing Lee before he decided that it was best not to know. He didn't think that a broken brain would be a welcomed thing while he was filing and gathering reports after all.


	13. Our Truth 13

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 13

Characters: Naruto, Gai, Iruka

Word count: 1803

Warnings: Nothing yet

AN: I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. I'm tired and I have to finish dealing with my room because tomorrow, we do flooring.

Finally. Ugh.

Anyways, we're just puttering along now aren't we? I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Sighing as he walked through his house on silent feet, Naruto headed down the stairs, pausing and tilting his head when he heard Gai stop snoring for a split second before resuming. He smiled to himself about the fact that the Jounin was so well tuned to the house already that he could simply figure out if there was an intruder or not in the space of a breath.

Shaking his head with a huff, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed the kettle from the counter, carrying it to the sink. Sighing once more, he filled it with water before he put it onto the stove, turning the burner on and watching as the water heated. He was having a rather early morning considering he was up nearly two hours before Iruka would even wake up. But he was quickly finding that he didn't often need as much sleep as he had at one time. He could get by just fine on five hours, six at the most, most days.

If he ended up with a flu bug, rare as it was, or was healing, he would find himself sleeping the day away, his usual excess of energy turning towards his healing.

Naruto grabbed the tea kettle off of the stove before it could start to whistle, pouring the hot water over the waiting tea leaves in his tea pot. Picking up his tea pot and a cup, he walked to the study, settling at his desk, putting both items to the side. He would meditate after he had his tea, so he would work on reorganizing his desk first.

Shifting through the various files, he smiled when he felt Kurama shift about in his very soul, waking up and exploring the outside for a bare second with a bit of his power before he pulled it back. Naruto ignored the fox for the moment, knowing that by the time that he fell into his mind-scape once more, he would find him awake and ready for their day. Checking his tea as he slid some files into a box, he smiled and poured a cup, leaning against his desk as he enjoyed the tea.

Once he was done with his tea, Naruto put his cup down next to the pot and stood, walking out of the side door onto the covered patio that he had covered with various cushions. He smiled at the slight warmth of the air around him before he moved into a sun spot, tugging a large pillow into it before he sat down on it. He sighed happily as he crossed his legs, his hands coming to rest on his knees as his eyes closed.

Settling his breathing and his mind, it wasn't very hard for him to drop into shi mental-scape, opening his eyes to the entry room of the Towers reproduction. He was working on finishing up arranging a few files into their new spots, but he was finding that it was taking a bit of time. He loved the fact that the new 'files', so to speak, in his mind tended to be where they needed to be, but anything before he started to arrange his mind had to be rearranged.

Kurama just found it all highly amusing even as he joined Naruto walking up to the third floor of the tower, runes glowing in greeting. Naruto groaned softly as he opened the door to the catch all room and shook his head with a sigh. "Alright, let's get this shit over with. Maybe I can catch some clue as to who it was who tried to get into the Archive's," he drawled.

Kurama just tilted his head to the side and rumbled in agreement, a sound that was almost thoughtful. "You have have seen much over your short time, Naruto. And as Umino-san has told you, you are are very people observant, so there is a likely chance that you have seen someone who would be out of place, or doing something odd at the time."

"I still can not believe that you call Iruka-kun 'Umino-san'," Naruto grunted as he pulled down a box that need to be gone through. He noted that there were a lot less than he had thought to go through and put into their proper places. He sighed at the thought of actually being done with having to shift everything around. "And I do suppose that you're right. I've apparently seen more about the people around us than I had originally thought."

"You have," Kurama said, a clawed hand reaching over Naruto's shoulder and picking up one picture, causing the blond to yelp. He turned around and glared at the glowing gold eyes that danced in amusement at him. "You would think that you would be used to me taking a more human form."

"It's only been three days, Kurama! Three!" Naruto growled, reaching up to tug on the loose red hair that felt a lot like the fox's fur. Matching fox ears twitched as Kurama smirked and sat down next to him.

"Calm down, little one," Kurama soothed, holding up one picture that had several people attending the Third Hokage's funeral. "Didn't that little bastard, the guy named Kabuto, disappear from the village after he turned on everyone?" he asked, pointing to a shadowy figure. It was standing just out of the way of the main procession. The man wore a hood but there was a barely there glint of glasses and silver hair that showed just who he was. "So tell me, why was he there at the funeral of your Third?"

Naruto cursed loudly and snatched the picture from Kurama, staring at it before he picked up the pile of pictures that it was a part of and flipped through them. It acted much like a flipbook and showed what the guy did, leaving him to curse even more. "Fuck me. Kurama, can you shift through the boxes that I've already gone through please? See if you can't spot him elsewhere," he instructed.

Kurama made a sound and nodded, pulling his hair back into a loose braid so that he could work without it getting in the way. While the fox shifted through the boxes of memories that Naruto had already gone through, Naruto continued to work through the unorganized boxes. He frowned at them and started to make a list that would be pinned to his mind in a way so that he could write it out for his fellow Chunins about what he had seen in his memories.

"I have a bad feeling that we have seen him often without realizing it," Naruto said as he finally sat back. His list was rather long but the files had been finally gone through. Kurama grunted and grabbed the list that his holder had made.

"Well. You've all seen him often, I think, just without knowing it. I'm going to continue going through the rest of the files from the time that you started this whole thing. You'll contact me when you need to make your physical list, yes?" Kurama asked as he smoothed his simple white yukata down.

"Yeah, not a problem. Thanks, Kurama," Naruto sighed, standing himself and leaving the tower while Kurama went deeper into it. Blinking out of his meditative state, he found himself jerking back and finding Gai staring at him, about to pat his cheeks. "Gai-san, we have told you not to try to draw us out of our meditations without another Chunin who knows how to do that with you," he stated as he frowned at him.

"Forgive me, Naruto-san, but I was told that I was to wake you. Iruka-san said that if you wish to eat, you must come to the table right now," Gai said, his voice moderated but still full of life. Naruto sighed at him and stood.

"Damn. That took a lot longer than planned," Naruto grumbled as he stood up. He slowly stretched the kinks out of his body from sitting in one position for so long before he headed into the study. Gai followed after and watched as his young charge found a new pad of paper and a pen, walking towards the kitchen with a thoughtful expression. "Iruka, I think that I have a lead on who might be getting in and out of the village well enough to try to get into the Archives. Or at least start to figure out how the hell he is controlling the puppet strings."

"Do you?" Iruka asked as he looked up from where he was shuffling papers and sticking them into his bag for the day. "You'll have to tell me over lunch. You're going to be helping me at the academy today with mid-terms," he stated, Naruto groaning but nodding.

"Yeah, sure. Just don't put me anywhere near the fire brats please? The last time that I had to deal with them, they set my clones on fire. It took me nearly a week after that to get rid of the phantom feel of being well done," Naruto stated, Gai shuddering. "The bad side of the clones that I use. I at first only got the memories, but ever since I started really training them, I get the feelings. Things like deaths by mundane things are easily shaken off. Death by an attack fueled by chakra are harder to shake off," he explained.

"You, my dear friend, are quite youthful to have trained with such a dangerous but still interesting technique," Gai boomed. Iruka just sighed at him and tossed a chipped cup at his head, smacking him on the forehead with a snort.

"Please remember your voice level and tone, Gai-san," Iruka drawled as the man caught the cup. "Sit down. It's time for breakfast."

"Thank you, Iruka,' Naruto chirped, sitting down at the table and serving himself some of the food waiting. "And, Gai-san, it's only dangerous if I believe that the wound is deadly to myself. I know that the clones are just clones and nothing more. It's an ingrained knowledge that not even an Uchiha's Sharingan can wipe out," he stated.

Gai went still as as he started to sit, staring at the young man, who stared at him steadily. He wasn't lying. Those who knew Naruto knew that he had vocal tells in the form of a very slight rising of octaves in his voice. He also had to tell in his eyes, the blue going almost as light as a soft blue sky. At the moment, neither tell was visible and that made him wonder just how trained Naruto had become under the tutelage of the supposedly "sweet and innocent desk Chunins".


	14. Our Truth 14

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 14

Characters: Shikaku, Shiba, Shikamaru, Naruto

Word count: 1,655

Warnings: Nothing yet

AN: And here today we piss off Shikaku somewhat. *giggles* I hope you all enjoy. :D

* * *

"Why is it that I'm being dragged into this?" Shikaku sighed. He watched as Naruto shuffled through his papers, his blue eyes flicked up at him. "Why can't anyone else do it?"

"Ibiki-san is busy currently with his ANBU and paperwork. All of the other Jounins who had made it through the first round of testing are busy with round two," Naruto stated as he spread out the papers that he held. "So I need you two to help me. Thus why you are here. Ibiki knows the full situation. And yes, we were doing fine with only two Jounin's to play bodyguards, but since it's looking as if we need to do this long term, we need more." he sighed. "We also need some rules that our guards will fucking well follow but still be able to do their damn jobs."

"You do realize that most Jounin are busy half the time with their own long term missions right?" Shikaku asked. He snapped his mouth shut as his eyes widened at the blank, almost bored look, on Naruto's face that was aimed at him.

"Yes, we do know this. We are the ones who give you guy's your damn missions. So very kindly fuck off," Naruto grunted, shaking his head before he leant forward. "Look, we don't want or need a damn guard under our feet while we're doing our own jobs. I do not need to deal with that shit and neither does any of my fellow desk Chunin. Do you get it?" They nodded. "Good. Now, unfortunately, since there's some nut job who has targeted us and is apparently really good at slipping past our defenses, we need Jounins to add to our routines." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Now, I need your help creating the rules that will allow them to do their job while allowing us our privacy at the same time. If I had my way, we'd make them all and all the Jounin would just have to deal with it."

"Why you little…" Shikaku growled. Shiba reached over and placed his hand down onto his arm to stop him from doing anything stupid.

"Please tell us just why you are asking the help of a Jounin to create the rules?" Shiba asked, gazing at Naruto from behind his dark glasses.

Naruto idly noted that Shino took after his father quite a bit considering that the man was just as steady as his son. "Because the Hokage told us to. She doesn't want the Jounin who pass to be our guards to throw hissy fits if we don't," he stated simply. A blond eyebrow rose. "Look, you guys would try to stop us from doing our very needed jobs if we didn't have these rules down on paper and as a contract." He smirked. "The contract is being written by Iruka and the Hokage herself so all Jounin guards aren't going to have any room to complain about it."

"I see," Shikaku said, leaning back in his chair and slumping in his seat. He watched as Naruto went through the Chunins and the tokubetsu Jounin's day to day schedule, making notes of what was being said. But he also thought about why the kid had rankled him as much as he had in just a few minutes.

As Naruto talked about what needed to be done during the desk Chunin's day to day life, and why it was needed to be done, Shikaku stared at the young man. He couldn't quite pin down what had really changed about him since he didn't know the kids as well as he should have. Sure, he hadn't really gotten to know him, but that really didn't matter since they all knew Naruto.

But it was as if there was an aura of offness that surrounded the young man. It was as if he wasn't very happy at the moment and couldn't quite hide it all.

"We can not allow anyone that is not the Hokage or an Archive worker into the Archives. There will be no discussion about this," Naruto stated, snapping them at Shiba and shocking Shikaku out of his thoughts.

"They need to be able to protect you," Shiba said, sounding reasonable but firm about the rule that he had put forth.

"No. Period. N. O. No," Naruto stated, his blue eyes hard. Shikaku muttered as he figured out what was wrong. The kid had already figured out that he would have to be a hardass to beat it into their heads that some places were just off limits to everyone but those with permission. He didn't want to fight this battle.

"Shit. Fine," Shikaku grunted as he shook his head, getting a searching look from his friend. "Don't fight it, Shiba. He won't budge on this subject. And I have a feelin' that the desk jo…" he trailed off and chuckled nervously at the daggers glared at him, "Desk Chunins will drop their guards and not even the Hokage would get them to allow Jounins to follow them around if we push on this matter."

"So damn troublesome. But dad's right, Aburame-san," Shikamaru grunted as he walked into the room, kicking the door closed behind him. Flopping down into a chair, he crossed his legs. "Hell, I wasn't even allowed into them and I worked as a mission Chunin for nearly six months. The thing is, with the job comes a shit ton of training. Naruto is still going through it all but I think that he's coming to the end of it right?" he asked, looking at Naruto.

"I am. I'm actually nearly done with the first few parts of my training. Which included a lot of working with Ibiki-san about my mind and how best to trap it. I'm actually having to work with Yamanaka-san to test my mind-scape soon," Naruto admitted as he shrugged. "We need to make sure that the tricks and traps are in working order and are hard enough for even a Yamanaka to get through."

"Dude, I wouldn't want to be running around in your head. It sounds scary since your teacher is Iruak-san," Shikamaru said, shuddering at the horror of it. Shikaku blinked as he watched Naruto relax with his friend there. "Listen, dad, Aburame-san, the desk Chunins have their own rules that run their lives. Unfortunately for you, the Jounin guards are going to have to work on being extremely flexible about only knowing bits and pieces of their lives. Which is why they're going through so many fucking tests. So damn troublesome."

"Are you telling me that the Chunins all know things that the rest of the rest of the nin's running around don't?" Shikaku asked. Naruto just gave them a blank look.

"Not every Chunin, no. If they did, there would be Jounins running around out there knowing what we desk Chunins know. To become a career Chunin like Naruto means that you go through several tests and a whole lot of training," Shikamaru drawled, rubbing a hand over his ponytail. "And then there is the blood pledges that tie them to the secrecy of the village. If we feel that any Hokage isn't worthy of their secrets, they don't have to talk," he said, shrugging.

"Really?" Shiba asked, his eyebrows raising over his glasses as Naruto smirked over at him.

"A career Chunin who is like me, or Iruka-sensei, has a lot of information that is critical to the village and it's safety, Aburame-san. If a Hokage is put into a place without being vetted by the previous Hokage, they are watched by the career Chunins. This was all set up by the first Hokage, Senju Hashirama, as a fail safe. His most trusted Chunins took up their places as permanent fixtures by his side, sharing his secrets and creating the Archives. They hid all of the secrets of the lands, even the Clans coming to trust them," Naruto said.

"I should pick up here. After he died, his brother and second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, took up position and was watched over by the Chunins before they trusted that he would be a good Hokage. So they shared the secrets with him. When our own Third was chosen and vetted by Senju-san, he learned the secrets and did the same with the Fourth. Each Hokage has watched as new Chunins were chosen and trained," Shikamaru said, sounding bored. The two Jounin stared at him.

Naruto chuckled lowly. "He got really bored one day and read one of the most boring, but still truthful books on the history of our village. It's a great way to find those who would be the best for our job," he said as he shrugged. "The only reason why Shikamaru here isn't being tapped is because he turned down the opportunity. Like he said, a desk Chunin's job is a busy one and one filled with training. A lot of training. I'm going to be trained completely in about six to eight months time. Less if I really push it." He frowned slightly.

"And with this latest attack, you're going to have to push the training right?" Shikaku asked. Naruto nodded once. "Damn. So troublesome," he groaned as he slumped in his seat, setting Naruto off into a fit of giggles. "Okay, go over what you need to do during the day and what your guards can not see much less do while around you again? I think that I have a list of rules that can be useful without stopping them from doing their jobs."

"That sounds good," Shikamaru drawled before Naruto went over the information once again. He was feeling much more relaxed now that he knew that the Jounin's would actually work with him.


	15. Our Truth 15

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 15

Characters: Naruto, Masked Man, Anko, Tsunade, Iruka, Neji, Shikaku, Lee, Gai, Shikamaru,

Word count: 1,740

Warnings: Nothing yet

AN: Err, well next chapter, the chunin's get REALLY, REALLY mean. It's going to be fun, that's for sure.

* * *

Muttering to himself as he filed the last of the mission reports for the day, Naruto cursed his luck at having gotten the night shift. He didn't mind it normally but he was dealing with having Anko as his guard for the night while Neji wandered around the tower. Having her watching him made his job slightly harder to do.

While it was true that she knew more about what a desk Chunin had to do and how they had to do it, she still didn't truly understand why they had to do it the way they did. He had had to quite literally kick her out of the Archives, growling at her that if she couldn't keep to the rules then she would be taken off of her detail.

Ibiki be damned.

She had not taken that threat kindly but she couldn't do anything about it in the end. She was currently sitting outside of the hidden Archive door, waiting for him to finish with the box that he was working on. Looking down at the box, he hummed softly and pulled the last file folder out, shifting through the one page reports to make sure that they were all signed correctly.

Signing on the file folder, he placed it into its new box before he slid the lid onto the box. Naruto went stiff at the sound of a board creaking slightly behind him, turning his head to scan the shelves around him before he hummed softly in thought. He felt as if someone was there, someone that wasn't supposed to be there.

"Anko, I swear that if you are in here again I will make it so that you can't get laid much less look at a torture room without seeing pink fluffy critters for the rest of your life," he called out. He used his voice to hide the slide of his kunai from his pouch. He jerked and hissed when something hit his neck, hand coming up to find whatever it was. Pulling the small dart free, he glared at it as his vision started to swim. "Fuck," he grunted.

Naruto shook his head as his eyes narrowed at someone who stepped out of the shadows. He could feel the smug smirk coming from the man as he walked over to him, making him narrow his eyes as Kurama worked to remove the sedative from his body. He wasn't immune, not as much as idiots kept saying about him, but with the foxes' help he could live through most poisons and shake off most sedatives.

It took him a few minutes to get the stuff out of his system enough for him to move without looking like he was drunk.

Staggering back against the shelves, Naruto dropped the dart that he had pulled free and sneered at the black clad person before him. They looked to be male, with a flat chest and hips that didn't curve, but he knew of a couple of women who could pull off looking like a male. They wore a black porcelain mask a lot like the ANBU but without the stylized animal on it. Over their body, they wore a hooded shirt that clung to their body, gloves, and pants. All of it screamed that the guy was an infiltration specialist seeing as they had all been customized to fit just right.

"Okay, so no' An'o," Naruto slurred, wiping at his lips with a hand that felt numb, glaring at the idiot. "The fuc' did ya ge' me wi'h?" he huffed, shaking his head as he staggered into an upright position.

Licking his lips with an equally numb tongue, he allowed his body to sway as it wanted, controlling it enough that he wouldn't fall to the floor flat on his ass, but still not fighting against himself as he thought. He had done some training with Lee on his drunken fighting style, the older male learning how to use it without needing to actually drink. Which had been a good thing since he still got drunk at the drop of a hat.

So it wasn't very hard to just let his body go loose and relaxed as he walked backwards from the approaching male. Narrowing his eyes as he shifted to balance on one foot, Naruto waited for the other to make the first move. He grunted when the guy lashed out and landed a hard hit to his ribs. With an idea of his opponent's speed and power, he started to weave and bob out of the hits that were aimed at him.

Dancing out of the way of a kick to his ribs, Naruto lashed out with his own fist finally, landing a hard hit to the man's gut and getting a grunt as the other staggered backwards. He was still feeling dizzy from the drug, Kurama growling loudly in the back of his head as he continued to work on getting it from his system. The guy stood still as they stared at each other, the man growling and grabbing a box that hadn't been sealed into place yet before he took off. Naruto noticed that a couple of the other boxes had been messed with while he had been working to get rid of the sedative.

Naruto cursed as he started to stagger after him, watching him with blurry eyes as the guy put the box into a sealing scroll on the run. Before he got very far, he fell to his knees and lost the last meal that he had eaten that day.

"Fucking shit," he groaned, feeling a bit more balanced after that. Standing up, he shoved the other boxes into place before staggering out of the Archives, Anko shooting up from her seat, staring at him with wide eyes. "Ge' Neji and have 'em ge' 'he others," he got out, swallowing heavily. "'hen 'oohpas'e and wash."

Anko nodded before summoning a snake to grab Neji while she helped Naruto into the small bathroom off to the side of the side room, sitting him on the toilet. She watched as he brushed his teeth while sitting there, starting to really shake off whatever it had been that he had been hit with as Neji ran into the room.

"What the hell happened?" Neji asked as he checked the room before turning to gaze at the still swaying Naruto who was cleaning out his mouth and rinsing off his toothbrush.

"Got drugged. Getting better though. Get the others for me would ya?" Naruto asked. "Tell 'em that papers went byebye. Make sure to grab Jounins on job too along with Ibiki and Tsunade," he instructed, shaking his head. "Anko. Coffee. Black and with a lot of sugar. Need to flush this out of my system." He paused. "Need to clean the floor in the Archives too."

"Right," Neji said, running out of the break area to hop out of a window, sending clones to the needed people while he himself went further up to the Hokage's meeting room. It wasn't often he used the solid clones but for the moment, he thought they would be best used. Sliding into the meeting room, he closed the window behind him and shivered at the slight winter chill that was in the air. Shaking it off, he moved around the room, lighting the hurricane lanterns.

He grumped about the fact that it was one of the few rooms that had no electricity wired through it. He knew that the walls were three inches of specialized metal that had been covered in seals to keep all meetings private and then covered by normal wall material. It was used when it came to discussions of new treaties, sensitive missions, or the Archives.

So to light the room up they used lanterns and candles, and to heat the room, they used a small stove that sat in one corner whenever there was a meeting. It had the added benefit of adding more light.

As Neji finally got the stove set up and heated with two kettles on it for the needed tea, Naruto and Anko came in, the blond holding papers and a pen in his hands. Naruto nodded his head in greeting before he sat down and continued to write out what had happened in the Archives as people started to arrive quickly. Neji shook his head as his clones dispelled, Iruka coming in and starting to talk with Naruto about what had happened. Kotetsu, Izumo, Genma, Raidou, and Kakashi all sat down at the table across from him. Tsunade walked in and took the seat at the head of the table, Ibiki standing behind her along with two ANBU guards. Gai, Shikaku, Shiba, Lee, and Shikamaru all took up their own seats, Shikamaru acting as the note taker for the meeting.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at Shikamaru. "I was bored and mom was bugging the shit out of me again even though it was supposed to be my day off," he explained. "So I decided to help you by playing note taker and plan master. I know how you Chunin think. I can add a subtle touch to your plans," he promised.

Naruto smirked at him before he frowned again. "About ten minutes before, some idiot broke into the Archives and attacked me. When they saw the sedative wasn't working on me while they tried to go through boxes, they attacked before grabbing a box that I had just placed several new scrolls into and took off. I think they had gotten another box to that wasn't anchored properly." He looked down at his notes. "They're well trained in infiltrations and pretty good at fighting. They're also well trained in using sealing scrolls since they did it on the run. I believe that they may be ROOT. And if not working under Danzo's orders, working as a paid operative through ROOT."

"How do you know this?" Shikaku asked as he leant forward to stare at the younger male.

Naruto sneered at the memory of his attacker. "Because the idiot had dressed in full black, down to the mask he was wearing," he stated, earning several growls from those who knew what that meant. "We have a starting point. We just need to get him before he disappears into the ether. Now, what are we going to do about it?"


	16. Our Truth 16

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 16

Characters: Iruka, Naruto, Genma, Izumo, Kotetsu, Raidou, Masked Idiot

Word count: 2004

Warnings: Adorable desk chunins get...creative with a punishment

AN: When I said they were getting creative and mean, I meant it.

Enjoy.

* * *

Sharing looks as the group gathered started to talk about what they should do next, the Chunin's bent together for their own discussion. Ibiki and the Jounin, minus the tokubetsu's, were all busy discussing how best to go after the idiot and bring him back. Tsunade listened with half an ear as she stared at her specialized team, nodding when Iruka glanced at her with a question in his eyes.

"We have permission to do what we need to do. Izumo, Naruto, both of you are our best trackers. You two will go with me when we go out," Iruka hissed. Raidou, Genma, and Kotetsu opened their mouths. He held up one hand. "I need you three to keep an eye on our gaggle of Jounin's here. Keep them here and working on how best to go after this guy. You three are the best to keep them running in circles. You guys will have your chance to hunt down the fool who sent this idiot to raid the Archives," he stated, the three men nodding.

"Fine. Go and get lost. They're not paying any attention right now and we'll be fine," Raidou grunted as he eyed the arguing Anko and Lee as they tried to figure out where the guy had run off to. "You would think that they would remember that they need a profile before they can head after an infiltration expert. Good luck you three."

"Yeah, thanks," Naruto drawled. The three men slipped out of the room via a hidden door sliding shut after them, taking off down the passageway and coming out along the outside wall. Naruto paused to lift his nose up, channeling a bare amount of chakra to his nose and sniffed. He hunted for a wiff of ink, parchment and pain that had surrounded the man who had attacked him. "Got him," he huffed once he had found the scent, hopping up into a tree and following it.

Iruka and Izumo were both quick to follow him into the trees, both plotting on what they would do to the idiot. They both wondered if Naruto had finished creating his punishment method that he had been playing with, something that all desk Chunin's did. Sharing a look, they both smirked and knew that they had their own methods in small sealing scrolls tucked away in their vests. First they would find the guy, and then they would set up his punishment. After they were done, they would then take him back to the others and let them have him.

Dodging around various branches as they followed the trail, they were able to quickly find the guy who they were after, still wearing the head to toe black outfit. Iruka narrowed his eyes and pulled out some of his wire as Naruto created two clones, sending them out to lay down traps, Izumo following after one to help him.

"Okay, so what we need to do is herd him towards the traps that are being set," Naruto hissed as they came to a stop. The idiot stopped in a field, holding his ribs, his entire body flinching. The blond figured that he had gotten a hit or two that had cracked a rib. Maybe two. He smirked to himself and made a note to thank Tsunade for teaching him how to land a chakra fueled hit. "They should be done in a moment and Izumo will be waiting for him on the other end."

"I think we can use a mix of tags and head on attacks," Iruka decided after a moment. The two looked at each other before nodding and heading to lay out the explosive tags. They would go off when the guy was near them, which in turn would herd him towards the traps that were being set. Naruto's clones released themselves once they were done with their set up, leaving him with the needed information of them. "Let's get him," the scarred Chunin hissed, nodding to where the man was once more on the move.

Nodding at him, Naruto darted out of the trees, throwing several kunai at their target, getting him to dodge to the left, where he had wanted him to. Smirking, he followed after him, joining him in the trees, only stopping for a split second every few steps to tug on the wires that he had wrapped around the ends of his thrown kunai to gather them up again. Iruka smirked as he started to keep pace with the target, setting off tags as he needed to get the guy to go the right way and to keep him off of balance.

They wanted to do nothing more than to string the idiot up by his balls, Naruto more so than the other two, but the three Chunin knew that the guy had to be taken in alive. Or alive-ish. They didn't really care just as long as the guy could give Ibiki the needed information in the long run.

Izumo smirked in his hiding spot as he felt the small flares of chakra from his fellow Chunin, knowing that the patrolling ANBU had probably felt them to and had gone to Tsunade. They had probably already been waylaid by the smooth tongues of Genma and Kotetsu. Those two could talk the most stubborn of people into doing what they wanted. It was always amusing and they were just waiting for a mission to somewhere they got to go to either Yuki no Kuni or Mizu no Kuni to see if they could talk someone into buying an ice cube during winter.

But for the moment, they were probably practicing by holding off a bunch of ANBU that wanted to do nothing more than to spoil their coming fun.

Izumo shifted on his branch slightly before he hopped down, feeling their chakra signatures getting closer. He smirked as he watched the black blur head right for him, pulling his arm back as he laced it with chakra, slamming his fist into the man's face when he got close enough. He snickered as the man flew back and landed on the ground, triggering the last trap that wrapped up his arms and legs. "Fuck but did that hurt," he hissed as he shook his hand, walking over to the guy who was twitching on the ground.

"That was a rather nice punch," Iruka mused as he and Naruto landed in the clearing. Naruto created a couple of clones and sent them off to collect any unexploded tags, wire and kunai that were running around, figuring that it didn't make sense to waste good weaponry. "It looks like the idiots mask had a thin layer of metal coated in the porcelain," he said as he looked at the cracked mask.

Most masks that were used by nins were made of porcelain, which could easily conduct chakra as they needed it. Some ANBU masks had very light amounts of specialized metals inlaid in their masts to help that. But it was looking as if the guy's mask had been first created in a thin layer of strong metal before wrapped in porcelain.

The metal was very slightly dented by Izumo's chakra enhanced punch.

"I think you should have Tsunade look at your hand once we get back to the tower," Naruto said as he looked over Izumo's hand. His own hands were glowing a light blue color as he rubbed at the hand, doing what he could to heal the muscles and bones that had been damaged. He winced when he had to pop a bone into place, getting a hiss from Izumo.

"Yeah, not a problem. I have a feeling that it's a good thing that I added the chakra I did," Izumo sighed, hissing as he wiggled his fingers. "So what are we going to do with this idiot?" he asked as he looked down. He idly kicked the bound man when it looked as if he was going to try to attack them, even tied up.

"Well, I kind of have a thought," Iruka drawled as he reached into one pocket and pulled out a small scroll, smirking at his companions. Unsealing the item within, he held it up for his friend's inspection. It was slim and simple, for all its looks just a sounding rod that anyone could have in their bedroom. But the three knew that once it had been inserted that it would react like no other sounding rod. Once inserted, it would spread out with sharp little barbs to stop it from being pulled free. It wouldn't hook in but it would hurt and do some damage that would take weeks to heal if it wasn't pulled free just right.

Iruka had created it after the first time that he had to deal with one Hatake Kakashi and his need to be a bastard to those who weren't even on his radar.

Naruto snickered softly as the guy on the ground gazed up at them through his mask, wondering why the three Chunin were suddenly looking so gleeful. "Oh! I actually finished mine," he said, pulling out his own sealing scroll. Unsealing the small item, he held it up. It was, to put it simply, a small buckled wrist guard but was smaller than a normal one. It was about the size of one put on a baby's wrist, but it could go up a few sizes if needed.

"What is it exactly?" Iruka asked as he looked over it, noting that there were small semi-dull spikes on the inside of it. It made him smile at that.

"I actually call it a nut ring for the moment. A person just needs to wrap it around a set of nuts," he said, blushing very lightly. "After a while it starts to hurt because it's pressing into the flesh. Doesn't cut, doesn't deny circulation but it does hurt," he drawled, twirling it around one finger. "All shiny and new."

"I love it," Izumo cooed, his eyes wide as his grin stretched over his face. "I have gloves on me. Let's get this guy back to everyone here soon," he chuckled. He would get to use his baby eventually. He wanted to see how Iruka's and Naruto's items would work together. Pulling out a small medical scroll, he unsealed three pairs of gloves and the men soon went to work. The guy started to screeched and was quickly gagged as they worked on getting the items set into place.

Once he had been redressed and trussed up, the three men took him back to the meeting room, opening the secret door in time to find Genma smirk at an uncomfortable looking ANBU. Kotetsu was resting against the senbon wielder's shoulders, laughing softly at him.

"We got the idiot who got in," Iruka announced as he dropped said idiot onto the ground. The fall drew out a whimper of pain, Izumo kneeling down to dig around in his clothes. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to rewrite all of the paperwork that he had been able to steal and _refile it_ ," he growled, causing the trussed up nin to curl up and whimper.

Ibiki and his ANBU all turned to look back and forth between the Chunin and the trussed nin on the floor. They wondered just how the three had been able to capture him without any obvious cuts or bruises on their body and found the thought of Iruka's growling pissy look sexy.

Naruto just smirked as Kotetsu whined that teasing ANBU was the boring job and how could they leave him behind while they had all the fun. The group watched as the group left with the storage scroll, leaving behind a whimpering shinobi tied up on the floor.

"They're all fucking sadistic bastards," the guy finally whined as he uncurled very carefully as his crotch gave an unforgiving throb.


	17. Our Truth 17

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 17

Characters: Ibiki, Idiot, Tsunade, Raidou

Word count: 1,734

Warnings: some blood, some penial damage

AN: When I said they were getting creative and mean, I meant it.

Enjoy.

* * *

Looking back and forth between the now closed door and the man still on the floor, Ibiki snorted in amusement as he smirked. "I'm starting to think that we will always underestimate those Chunin," he drawled. "And I'm thinking that this proves that for me."

"Indeed it does do that," Tsunade snickered as she shook her head with her own amused look. "I'm wondering what they did to this one," she mused.

"Hokage-sama?" one of her ANBU asked, his masked face turning to her as she smirked. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. He was fearing the answer just by the glint in honey colored eyes.

"My Chunins all have very special allowances given to them. This includes the fact that they can torture or leave their captives in pain depending on the situation. Stealing things from the Archive is one of them," she said before she chuckled. "They work really hard on creating new ways of torturing the idiots without actually leaving them in permanent pain." She paused. "Usually."

"Usually?" Ibiki asked.

Looking at Ibiki, Tsunade smirked and rolled her shoulders as she sat back in her seat. "They save the permanently scarring torments for those idiots who make them have to rewrite and refile everything," she said. "Grab him would you? We'll go see what it was they did this time. I'm kind of curious." Standing up, she moved to another hidden door, opening it to a side room that was more like a hospital room, waving the ANBU through who had grabbed the man. The idiot had curled around his groin again.

Once he had been hefted up onto the table in there, the ANBU quickly left as Raidou slipped in, leaving him alone with Ibiki, Tsunade and the man. Raidou reached out as Ibiki closed the door behind them, poking at him with one finger. "Wanna tell us where they hurt you?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"My balls and dick," the guy groaned, shuddering softly as he worked to keep his groin stable, hoping to stem off any more pain.

"Ah, so that means that got real mean," Raidou chuckled, shaking his head with an amused look. Tsunade snorted as she dug around in her pockets, pulling out a set of gloves to tug on.

"I need you to uncurl so I can get to your testicles," she stated. The man uncurled, whimpering the entire time. Getting his pants off, she swatted at the guy's hands whenever he reached down to cup his dick again, scowling at him as she put the pants into a bag. "You're probably doing damage by cupping yourself like that," she drawled. She gently grasped that had a metal ball resting at the tip, narrowing her eyes. "Let's see what they did this time," she said, grasping the ball and tugging slightly, feeling it resist as her captive patient screeched.

"Don't! Don't! Fuckin' don't!" he screeched. Tsunade smirked down at him. "Fucking feels like barbs are digging into my dick from the inside," he whined. Tsunade let go of the ball and ran a glowing fingertip around the edge before she started to pull it out. She got a bit out before the barbs flared out again.

"I see. I'm just betting that my Chunin's are the only ones who can get this out in one motion and keep the barbs from reapplying themselves," she mused. She looked over at the two men that were with her. Ibiki was looking decidedly daze while Raidou was fluctuating between horror and need. "This'll take me a few minutes to get out."

"There seems to be something around his balls," Ibiki told her, his voice dazed. Tsunade smirked at him before she checked the man's balls.

Looking at the band that was wrapped tightly around the man's balls, she chuckled and shook her head. "That's Naruto's work no doubt. He was always fond of bands like this," she said. "At least the kind that you can wear around your neck or wrist. I think that he has a few that he uses on the rare mission now days as a type of sealing scroll. He has seals all over them if you know what you're looking for," she mused.

"He does work in the Archives, Hokage-sama, so it's really not surprising that he would learn seals and how they work," Raidou told her, clearing his throat as he watched her slowly release the belt and allow normal blood flow.

"It looks like he's going to have problems with his testicles for a while," she mused as she put the band onto her medical tray. Both of the men winced when they caught sight of the blunted spikes on the inside of the band. "Not to mention his penis. We'll have to place a special catheter in otherwise him pissing won't let the wounds inside heal properly," she said.

"Tsunade-sama, would you mind if I asked you something?" Raidou asked after he traded looks with Ibiki. She made an agreeing noise as she ran a glowing fingertip around the ball of the sounding rod, watching the spikes retract before she started to pull, having to stop when the spikes came out again. The man, already senseless from the amount of pain he was in already, barely twitched. "Are the desk Chunin really allowed create such things?" he asked. As close as he was to the others, and able to know some of their secrets, it looked as if they still had secrets hidden.

She looked up as she ran her finger around the ball once more, frowning lightly. "Yes, they are. That was one thing that my grandfather did right when he started this village. Those Chunin who take a permanent desk job have free reign over the Archives, their files and their own. They are also well watched by one of their own and the know it. That one person is chosen for specific reasons that not even I know about and, no, I don't know who it is who watches them. I know that he has his apprentice and is working on training him now to take over that spot."

"So they are a power unto themselves?" Ibiki asked her. He had never really thought about how the Chunin worked really. Yes, he respected the Chunin's who gave their careers over to the "boring" parts of the nin life, but he didn't understand what came with it. He knew that they went out on occasional missions, mostly to keep their skills sharp, and that they trained whenever they could do so, but beyond that? He was as clueless as the next nin.

"They are, but only to a point. They are still nins of the Hidden Leaf. But within our walls? They only answer to me," Tsunade said. "And that's only because I trust in their information and their choices. They are chosen for very good reasons and they last as long they do for even better reasons. Their training is hard, as you know, Ibiki, but it's not just mental strength that they have to have. They could all be Jounin if they so wished to be but they are content with what they do."

"So what you are telling me is that they have all been specifically chosen to stay in their position?" Raidou asked as Tsunade kept working the sound out. She finally got it free with a flood of blood, nodding at him as she covered the penis with a glowing hand. Concentrating, she started to heal the torn tissue enough that the idiot before her wouldn't die of blood loss, but only enough to get him through the catheter insertion. He would be sore and in pain for a few weeks though, which made her smirk.

"They do. As for their special dispensation on being able to do things to those who put their jobs and secrets in any kind of jeopardy? That particular rule came from my great-uncle. He signed that bill and Sarutobi-san never thought to overturn it. He liked it too even when the council huffed and puffed. As much as he was rather soft hearted near the end, he knew that there were some that needed to be able to do what needed to be done without anyone being able to say a thing."Tsunade smirked at the two men.

"So you mean to tell us that if the council, even if it's both of them or just one of them, whined about what they did to someone and demanded punishment, it wouldn't happen?" Ibiki blinked several times.

Tsunade smirked at him and nodded. "They know the limits of each situation and what they can get away with in the long run. Thus the rather creative way of punishing this idiot here," she said, waving a hand to the bloody sound and the band. "This is what happens when you _break into_ the Archives and take stuff out of there. And this is the _nice_ punishment," she purred. The man on the bed whined as he stared up at the ceiling. "Have no doubt that when we find out just who ordered this idiot to break into their Archives, that they will demand that they get their pound of flesh."

"I'm feeling really scare of my friends now. Cause I though for a long time that they were cute, fluffy beings that were fun to flirt with and fun to watch as they tore a Jounin down to size," Raidou whimpered.

Ibiki chuckled at him, patting his shoulder. "I'm sure that Naruto is still cute and fluffy. At least for the moment. Remember, he is the one who created the band there if what Tsunade-sama told us is true," he drawled.

Raidou whined at him and hid his face into his hands. Tsunade snorted as she walked back into the conference room, pulling her gloves off as she instructed the ANBU to take the idiot to a locked down hospital room to heal. Ibiki just smirked as he thought of what the Chunin were really capable of.

They seemed kind of sadistic. They did seem to like to torture any Jounin who had pissed them off by sending them on those damn Tora rescue missions.


	18. Our Truth 18

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 18

Characters: Anko, Naruto, Iruka, Kotetsu, Izumo

Word count: 1,858

Warnings: Nothing much

AN: Seriously kind of late, but I ended up sleeping most of the day away. It's been raining all day today and it's cold out there. I've been working on doing a few other things to, like trying to finish a full length novel.

The last two chapters are giving me fits. I swear. *sighs*

But for now, enjoy!

* * *

Naruto groaned under his breath as he looked at the pile of papers that they had unsealed from the scroll before he moved to get the boxes of scrolls and papers that they kept stocked. "Whose turn is it to run to the supply store?" he asked as he shoved boxes into the pouting Anko's arms. "And you are on Chunin babysitting duty, Anko. Do suck it up and carry the damn boxes. We have a lot of work to do," he snarled, getting blinked at.

"Okay, what crawled up your damn ass and died a twitchy, twitchy death, Uzumaki?" Anko grunted as she hauled the boxes out of the office when pissed off blue eyes swung to her. "Fuck. What's up with him?"

"The same thing that is wrong with all of us," Iruka stated as he started to go through the various files, arranging them into boxes to be held until they had been copied. He placed the boxes onto some of the tables that were now filling the mission room, the larger greeting area now acting as their conference room. Some Chunin who weren't a part of the main core were all manning them, knowing that they were to only sign off and place the pages and scrolls into boxes.

From there, when they had been filled, they would be moved into the main room along one wall before they left. While they did all of that, the main career Chunin's would be copying and re-filing all of the files that had been stolen by the idiot. Between filing the boxes that came in.

"And what is that?" Anko asked as she dropped the boxes into the middle of the room. She noticed that Izumo was working on putting down temporary contact paper onto each of the tables, making sure that they were nice and smooth. Kotetsu was standing at the tea table, watching the electric water kettle heat while he mixed something thick and the color of green in a very large bowl. He occasionally added a bit of hot water or something green that he shaved from a block.

"We're going to end up being here for nearly twenty-four hours straight. This is after working a full night shift. Naps will be short and simple for the next day. Coffee and take out will be our best friends," Kotetsu stated as he finally got the thickness that he was looking for. "Luckily for us, this stuff doesn't take a lot of chakra. Most of the heavy lifting is done by this paste but we need to lay the damn seals down every hundred pages or every fifty scrolls," he snorted as he scooped some of the goo into a piping bag with a thick tip. He moved to the first table and started to lay down the seal in thick lines, making sure that it was drying before he went to the next table.

"What the hell is that?" Anko asked them, trying to look at the seal but finding that her eyes blurred. "Shit. What the fuck is that?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes as she looked away from the seal, noticing that even indirectly the seal looked blurry.

"Unless you have signed the Chunin contract and gone through the first three months of the training, you're not able to see it," Naruto stated as he came out with more boxes of papers and scrolls. "It's all about having secrets that are well protected for us," he continued as he set the boxes down and moved to make tea. He sighed once he had his tea, moving to claim one of the boxes of blank paper, sitting down at his chosen desk.

Putting his teacup to the side, he reached into the box of files on his desk, nodding when Iruka placed a metal trash can down next to him. It was covered in seals and the inside glowed with an almost hot shimmer, making Anko curious as to what it was.

It wasn't long before her curiosity was satisfied once Naruto had made his first copy. The original was placed onto one of the inner seals and the blank paper placed onto the opposite seal. With a bit of chakra, he had a perfect copy that he then stamped with his official stamp and ink, flipped it upside down into the new folder next to him and crumpled the original. He dropped it into the can where it flared and turned into ash once it had hit the bottom.

"Wow but you guys have some nice toys," Anko cooed. Izumo snorted as he took his own seat with a box of scrolls in his hand, Kotetsu finishing with the laying of the seals.

"The copying seals that you don't see were the work of the First, Third, and Fourth Hokage perfecting and tweaking them," Iruka said as he sat down. Kotetsu sat down at his own desk with his own box. "Mostly the Fourth's work when he started his training to become the Hokage. Anko, no matter how much we talk about our Hokage's strengths, we hide their weaknesses. That's the first job of a desk career Chunin. We hide those weaknesses and make sure that no one can find ways to use them against us."

Anko stared as she took a seat on the couch that had been shoved out of the way. "Can you tell me anything?" she asked, showing a side that very few knew about her. She was good at her job and gathering information. And for very good reason.

"Look, Anko," Naruto stated, not even stopping his methodic movements as he made new copies and destroyed the old ones, "the First and Second Hokages did what they could to get this village going and working. But they were still weak in a lot of areas. Thus why the special team of Chunins were created by them. We filled in their weaknesses then and we do that now. We do what we have to do, and we know what we know that no one else does. And nothing will ever get that information from us," he stated.

"The Third, no doubt about it, was a good war time Hokage, and a somewhat good peacetime Hokage. But he got old and tired. He lost his grip that he had on everything," Izumo said, staring at one page of the file before he set it aside in a small box. Anko raised an eyebrow at the move, seeing that the other three had boxes just like that. "We had to stop a lot of paperwork from going through after the Third had died. Our predecessors had worked hard to make sure that the Hokage position was able to keep its power after the Kyuubi attack."

"Without us, the Hokage would have ended up being a glorified figure piece," Kotetsu stated. Anko blinked in her surprise. "Or at least without our predecessors. They made sure that the council didn't grab any more power than what they were able to in the long run and we've been whittling down their power base since."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Anko asked. She was furiously making mental notes as the four Chunin smirked before her.

"We don't just work at the mission desk all day, Anko-san," Iruka drawled. "We also work in the Archives after all, which contains the laws, memos, and clan secrets. Everything that is written down as a clan secret is copied and placed into our care. It's a very solid law. And we do know if something isn't placed into our care because there are seals everywhere that tell us."

"We actually spy on our own people like that?" she asked. She knew about the ANBU who watched over the clans and the rest of the village. But she hadn't known that the Chunin were using seals to stalk their own people.

Kotetsu snorted as he eyed a page before dropping it into a box. "It's a leftover from when the village was first started. The First got several seal masters to lay down some specialized seal stones under the village, tied to the Archives. If the clan's don't put their new laws or secrets in willingly, we go and do it for them. And they can't say a thing about it without losing that secret for good, or that law," he said, shrugging. "We're also working on going over any and all paperwork from the time that the Third took over and are working to compile a list of things that need to be fixed. You'll soon see information come out about laws that are being overturned."

"Will it work though? That's the real question that we need to ask," Anko drawled as she ran her fingers over her collarbone as Naruto smirked.

"It's not like the Civilian council can do shit about it. The Hokage is the granddaughter of a Hokage, a grand-niece of another, is one herself, and a Sannin with the Slug Contract. Not to mention that she's forever creating medical advancements that she shares out with those who need it. On top of that, they're not over the nins of the village, who are the big money makers of the village. And the council over the nins are loyal to the Hokage," Naruto stated as he put two pages into the box.

Iruka smirked at her. "We can and do a lot more than what you guys give us credit for. Just because you don't see us do the work doesn't mean that we're not doing something or another. Right now, we all have at least one clone that is working on something that needs to be done. They'll be packing up what they're doing soon though so they can dispel. That way we don't have to worry about straining ourselves. But again, things are getting done." He pulled a new file from his box as he dropped the old file folder down into his trash. "We'll be done with a list of things to change or revoke in the next six months since Naruto has now been able to help us."

Anko looked over at Naruto and cocked an eyebrow with a smirk as he huffed. "And why are you just now getting into this part of it all?" she asked.

Naruto made a distracted noise as he picked up the current file and started to flip through the pages, pulling several out. "I had to reorganize the way my brain worked first. With Kurama working to keep things safe, I don't really have to worry about much. Especially with a few other things that I've done," he said. He winced as he remembered the seal that he had had tattooed onto his lower thigh, just under one ass cheek. It had hurt to get but it had been a good idea so that he had another level of mental security.

Anko blinked at him and wondered just how insane the desk jockeys were.


	19. Our Truth 19

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 19

Characters: Ibiki, Raidou

Word count: 1,504

Warnings: Nothing

AN: So, first chapter of the New Year! I hope it finds you well and happy.

Now, someone (either an Anon or smit45) on AFF sent me a review that asked why the tattoo was in such an odd place. The reason why? Because it's not a spot most people will look for a tattoo.

Even interrogators won't put much attention to that spot since there are more conventual places that are better to stick a tattoo. That's why.

For now, enjoy!

* * *

"So tell me what you know." Ibiki stared at the Sparrow masked ANBU before him, feeling the smirk behind it. "You know something, don't you?"

"I do know, a lot. But still not all that much. I may be close to them but I'm still learning what is going on with the Chunins and the such," Raidou admitted as he pulled off his mask. He set it to the side. "I think that they may actually know _who_ I am, but that's not surprising considering what it's looking like they know."

"Everyone knows that an ANBU can and will be any nin as long as they have the power and are willing to go through the hell of training," Ibiki grunted, staring out of his window. "But what I'm not understanding is how they hid everything under the radar. From everyone."

Raidou smirked at him. "They're just that good. They are hand chosen to be the main people for the Hokage's pet Chunin, and thus they are trained well. I think that they go through a few more classes than any other Chunin or Jounin when it came time to keep their minds sharp. Not to mention dangerous for any intruders. Especially after they come to you for the start of that training." He chuckled and shook his head as he stretched his legs out before him. "They are scary strong by the looks of it, and they hide right in front of us."

"That they do," Ibiki sighed as he slumped down in his seat. He frowned heavily as he tapped his fingers on his chairs arm. "It is all rather interesting really. At least when it comes to them. Do you think anyone would know anything about them? And I mean actually know something, not just rumors and hearsay," he said. He looked at Raidou who looked thoughtful.

"Maybe the guys at the bar may know. I know that Izumo and Kotetsu often hit up the bar. Sometimes Iruka is there. Naruto meets up with some of his fellow Rookie Nine to just hang out and talk with them. Catch up on what they're all doing," he said after a moment of thinking. "I sometimes meet up with them. But we don't talk work often. Listening to what they do say though would probably fill in more information. Maybe get Anko in to watch. Did you read her report about what they told her?" he asked.

Ibiki nodded as he pulled that report out. " _I_ didn't even know that they had seals that no one can see, much less that they are able to copy full reports without needing to copy them by hand," he said. "She said that it had something to do with the chakra that a person infuses into their ink without knowing it. All they do is take that chakra, use their ink mix, and recreate the file that way. If the file didn't have that microscopic amount of chakra in it to transfer, it wouldn't work."

"That sounds interesting and useful. Maybe that's why some of those files are so neatly written but handed back and told to rewrite them. And they tell them to do it without help," Raidou snickered, remembering a few times that happened. "I wonder how they can figure out if it was written by that person or not. Are they sensors?" he asked.

Ibiki shook his head with a chuckle. "It's actually a basic thing that each desk Chunin has to learn, even if said desk Chunin isn't looking at it for a long term career. It's pinpoint chakra sensing. While they're there, they learn to read the chakra in the ink and it helps their abilities in the long run," he said, patting the report. "Anko is currently begging them to learn techniques while she's watching them."

"It would help her to train her chakra sensing, get it to work properly," Raidou chuckled as he stood, pulling his mask back on. "But truly? I would suggest that just having some of the ANBU go and listen to the guys at the bar when they're there. Without their masks of course. Most tend to shut up when ANBU are around and we just can't have that, now can we?" he drawled. He smirked once more at his boss from behind his mask.

Ibiki growled before he waved a hand to dismiss his hidden ANBU, already thinking about what he was going to do next. He knew that Raidou was right about the bar. He needed to find out some way to get the information on the career Chunins, but to do that people had to talk. And they never talked freely around ANBU. As it was, interrogation just to figure out a puzzle was frowned on by the Hokage, especially if it concerned her Chunins.

That woman had so much going on that no one knew about that it wasn't funny. This of course included the fact that she was having her pets go through the paperwork of the village. And that she was looking to clean house, using her Chunin to do it.

It was kind of hot knowing that her career Chunin were trained to hide such information from everyone and still seem so sweet and innocent.

Sighing to himself, Ibiki slumped in his chair as he contemplated who would be the best to use to have listen in on the Chunins in the bar. He needed someone who could blend in, like Raidou said, but who could still pick out the important things that they needed. It would take some planning.

Standing up from his chair, he moved to one of his file cabinets and started to shift through the various files that he had on people. Frowning, he figured out after a while that Raidou and possibly Yamato would be best to use for the mission. They both blended well, but Raidou was already a well known figure in the bar, usually hanging out with the Chunin as it was. But Yamato could hide out even in broad daylight.

Hiding in plain sight of a bunch of Jounin and Chunin who were there to relax after a long day? It would be a cake walk for his young ANBU. Considering there had been a short time where Jiraiya had talked with him about using Yamato's special skill set to help train Naruto to use the Kyuubi's powers? It wouldn't be to hard to get him to watch the Chunins.

It would just have to be done in such a way that they wouldn't raise suspicion from anyone about what they were doing. It wouldn't do them any good if the desk Chunins discovered that they were working on trying to figure them out after all. They would even go further underground with their secrets, and Ibiki really did want to know what he could learn about them. He had a feeling that he would need to know what he could so he could be the best kind of support if they needed it from him.

Ibiki knew that there were things that were building up to something. Something big. Especially since that idiot had _actually_ had gotten into the Archives and stolen paperwork from there. What paperwork it had been, not even Anko had figured that out. But he was sure that it had been somewhat important as, for example, the list of clan techniques for their clans. And some of the village created jutsus.

Those files had been what the man was probably after, but until he was actually awake and healed from his ordeal, they couldn't get that story out of him.

All that they knew was that the idiot had grabbed files after attacking Naruto with a sedative, and then physically before ditching out. He had left Naruto to shake off the drug fully before getting sick and gathering everyone together.

He had to smirk at the fact that Naruto wasn't one that was easily drugged and knocked out. And that someone had tried that on him, but all it did was make him very, very mad.

Chuckling softly to himself, Ibiki tucked away the personnel files and moved back to his desk, sitting down to write out his request for Raidou and Yamato to do the bar mission. He wanted to hear anything and everything that was being said about the Chunins. He would weed out the rumors later. But he also wanted to see how they acted around their friends, both from inside of the group and from outside of the group.

He had no doubt that the reports would be full of information and revelations for him.

Ibiki smirked down at the paperwork before he laughed. Outside of his office, his secretary swore, loudly, to go see the ANBU therapist again as she pulled out the bottle of whiskey, shuddering. Her job just didn't pay her enough, bonus' included, to deal with a laughing Ibiki.


	20. Our Truth 20

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 20

Characters: Raidou, Izumo, Kotetsu, Naruto, Iruka, Yamoto

Word count: 1,822

Warnings: Nothing

AN: So, yeah, just something of a relaxing chapter for the poor characters. Next chapter is going to be...smutty. Very much so.

To note: I _was_ going to post this Sunday since yesterday I was gone all day. But my ride ended up arriving a lot earlier than planned so I had to leave to get to my friends. And since I don't bring my computer on these things (tablet is lightweight and doesn't annoy the fuck out of me, thank you), I couldn't post.

So yeah. *sighs* A day late. Sorry guys.

* * *

"Why am I doing this again?" Yamato asked as he played with his sake cup, occasionally drinking a bit of the liquid that it held. Raidou smirked from next to him and pulled his own cup closer to him.

"Because Ibiki-san asked us to be here. Remember, I'm just waiting patiently for my friends. Kakashi on the other hand will be taking my place with ya," he drawled. Yamato nodded his head once before he looked around the bar.

The bar was only half full so far, filled with a few Jounin and Chunin so far. A couple of the older Genin teams who hadn't gotten lucky so far in advancing to Chunin were there too. There were a few who were sitting alone, enjoying a cup of sake and apparently writing a report of some kind.

Everyone else had already gathered in groups of two or threes, talking and chatting with each other.

It was all so very normal. Outside of the fact that most of the Jounins that were hanging around were waiting for the desk Chunin's to get together for their normal night out. It usually included Iruka, Naruto, Kotetsu, and Izumo, but they all knew that Raidou and Genma would be joining them for the nights fun.

Thus why Yamato was sitting there, watching as Naruto walked into the bar and headed to a clear table near the back, sliding into a chair with a sigh. Raidou smirked at Yamato before he winked and headed over to sit next to his friend.

"You're early tonight," Raidou chuckled as he waved down one of the servers. Naruto groaned as he slowly stretched out.

"I got off slightly early so that I could go put in an order for new supplies and check this rounds. Copying all of those files really wiped out a good chunk of our stuff so we need more," he admitted. "So I was the lucky one to go since I can usually get in and out fast. It was still way too long for my tastes though."

"That sounds horrible there, Naruto," Raidou chuckled, shaking his head with an amused smile on his lips. "The other's comin' soon?" he asked.

Naruto nodded his head, turning to the server to ask for tea and dango. "Yeah. They'll be here in about five minutes or so by the way," he said once the server had left with a smirk at them. "They might bring more food than what they serve too," he warned.

"I'll make sure that I put money into the general fund," Raidou promised. He was talking about the fund that the career Chunin and the tokubetsu Jounin started for when they got together. It usually just covered their drinks that they couldn't have while at work, or some fresh tea that they stocked for themselves. But sometimes they used it for food.

As the server placed Naruto's tea and dango before him, the rest of the group walked into the bar with food in hand, just as he said. It looked as if they had decided to hit all of their favorite food stalls for a little bit of everything. "I smell good things," Raidou greeted, smiling as Iruka placed a bag that held ramen from Ichiraku's and another bag that looked to hold meat from the barbecue stand that they liked. Izumo added two more bags to the pile, one from a well known dango stand and one from a finger-food stand that they all liked.

Kotetsu just smiled at him and held up a packet that held their general fund in it. "Since all of this bullshit started, we haven't had any reason to spend money so we have some extra," he said, waving it. "And we still have a lot of base to work with it. Even after restocking the tea and coffee."

"It sounds good to me," Raidou drawled. The three men took their seats and left one open for Genma. "Where's my brat run off to this time?" he asked, taking a set of disposable chopsticks.

"He's coming soon. He just had to stop by and pick up an order that came in before coming here," Iruka promised, nodding to the server when he dropped off some plates. Any nin that came to the bar knew that they were encouraged to bring food if they wanted to. The owners were retired nins themselves, so they knew how it was to be hungry. There was also the option of having a server run to one of the stalls if they were willing to pay for that and the servers time so that the nin didn't have to leave.

The group usually took advantage of this and brought food for themselves before they arrived at the bar for their fun. The servers had gotten used to just dropping off plates and disposable chopsticks for them.

Placing their own orders for their drinks, Iruka, Kotetsu, and Izumo all settled back with a sigh of pleasure, unwinding. "Ugh, today was just way too long after all of that refiling," Kotetsu moaned as Genma strolled into the bar, a bag from sweets stall hanging from one of his hands. "Aw, and he got us dessert. So nice."

"Course I did. You guys rarely think about getting dessert until it's time ta have it," Genma drawled teasingly, pulling his senbon from his mouth. He tucked it away into a pouch and sat down, smirking as he put the sweets down. The group ignored the fact that there were people staring at them for a few minutes before they went back to their own thing. "So, let's see what we got goin'."

They each claimed their ramen first before they laid out the rest of the food onto the larger plates that came with their smaller ones. Pork, beef and chicken skewers with some grilled vegetables took up half of one large plate while various types of dango sat in their own little dishes on the other half of it. They also had spread out kare pan, korokke, gyoza, senbei, takayaki, both vegetable and seafood tempura, manju, and onigiri.

Genma smirked at them before he laid out the containers with anpan, castella, chinsuko, and imagawayaki. They all agreed that the spread was more than enough for the night and settled in once the drinks had been dropped off by their server.

"So tell me, what's the plan for tonight?" Genma asked as he snagged a few of the sides, putting them onto his plate before he started to dig into his shrimp ramen. They all loved Ichiraku's ramen, but not quite as much as Naruto and Iruka did. It was still a nice treat for all of them.

"I have to work come morning," Kotetsu drawled as he pointed to Raidou, "with this punk here. We're watching the gate. Our Jounin guards are gonna be bored out of their minds while we do this, but eh, it happens."

Raidou snickered and nodded his head, swallowing his mouthful of noodles. "Oh yeah. I'm going to enjoy watching them squirm."

"You could always make them do some of the paperwork that doesn't need your signature," Izumo drawled before eating a bit of his shrimp tempura. "Anyways, since he's working tomorrow, I'm heading home along tonight. Can't let the poor boy be tired from everything that I would want to do to him tonight," he said, smirking at them. "I'll get him after work though. I have a couple of days off which is nice."

"I take it that you're heading home to your own apartment? Who's your Jounin guard for tomorrow?" Genma asked before leering at Izumo and getting a snicker.

"Neji tonight. He's setting up some specialty seals around the guest room just in case I want to bring someone home tonight. They'll trip if someone who isn't supposed to be in there invades my room. He's offering to do the same to the rest of our rooms by the way," Izumo said as he drank a bit of his beer. "That means no hopping into the window to get your clothes tomorrow, Kotetsu. You'll actually need to come through the front door."

"It's not a problem. You gonna take someone home with you?" Kotetsu asked, Naruto flushing as he tried to ignore the topic of discussion, hiding his face behind his ramen container. He looked around and noticed that several people were watching them while trying not to look as if they were. He made a note to talk with Iruka about what was going on later as he picked up his own bottle of mead, an import from some far off land.

"Maybe," Izumo purred as he eyed up Genma with a teasing look on his face. "That is Raidou doesn't mind having an empty bed tonight and a Kotetsu possibly on his couch."

"Take him, please. I need my own sleep and he's got sweets here. You two can wear each other out," Raidou said, laughing brightly as he shook his head. He smirked as Genma leered. Naruto tilted his head and listened to the soft conversations going on around them as the two men flirted back and forth, sometimes saying something before they went back to eating.

He was actually hungry though, having used up a lot of chakra during their copying the last couple of days, so he was focusing on his food instead of his flirting friends.

Naruto choked on a bite of his ramen when he heard two Jounin that he knew talking about who would top who between the two men. They were betting on it being Genma who was the one who ended up fucking Izumo, making him groan softly around his dango.

"Are you alright there, Naruto?" Iruka asked him, looking worried about his apprentice and friend, the blond waving him off with his chopsticks.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he promised before he sighed and shook his head. "Just heard a few things that I didn't care to hear really," he told him lowly. He shot a look to the two Jounin who were now writing down a few other bets.

"Ignore the bets. And remind them later that any winners have to cut the ones they're betting on into the cut," Iruka drawled as he smirked at the men. "That's how I got that specialty wallet for you your last birthday," he said, looking back to Naruto.

Naruto snickered at that. "I'll remind 'em and then tell Izumo and Genma. Tomorrow. If I see them at all tomorrow since I have to go in and put away the damn stock. It's my turn after all," he sighed as he remembered that fact. Iruka reached over to pat him on the arm with a laugh. "Fuck me."


	21. Our Truth 22

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 22

Characters: Neji, Raidou, Genma, Iruka, Kotetsu, Izumo, Naruto,

Word count: 2051

Warnings: nothing really

AN: Yes, I'm a tease. I'm so horrible. *cackles* To move on, I hope that you guys don't hate me to much for not posting on Monday. Things happened alas. Which landed me into sleeping all day and spending the rest of the night in a cold induced haze.

Fun times.

Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. I'm going to work on finishing up the editing. I'm almost done! Then I can focus entirely on my other stories that I'm writing.

* * *

The next afternoon as Raidou and Kotetsu came in from their afternoon shifts at the front gates, they wondered where they would find their mutual lover's. They were pleasantly surprised at finding Genma and Izumo talking with Iruka at the mission desk. Naruto was muttering to himself as he used a dolly to haul boxes into the supply closet, complaining about having to stock them all because of some idiot.

Izumo was just watching him, looking highly amused by their youngest desk Chunin.

"So I'm going to guess that you two had fun last night?" Raidou asked his lover, dropping a kiss onto his head before he took his own seat behind the mission desk.

"Yes, and a lot of it. Actually, I had to pull out some pain killers since it was so fun," Genma drawled, sounding smug as he shifted. "I relearned a few of my muscles to boot."

"I told you that you should have kept up your flexibility training going," Raidou drawled as he arranged his paperwork, going through the various missions that he was to hand out. "I take it that there's another caravan coming in?" he asked as he held up the requested meeting and guarding of said caravan.

"Yeah. I think it's from Snowflake this time," Iruka told him, smiling as he looked at the other man. "It's that time of year for them to come around with teas and spices, along with their furs and fabrics. Those sort of things," he said, reading what he could see of the mission information without having to take it from Raidou.

"Great. I'll make sure that there's a couple of Genin teams, their Jounin instructors, and a few Chunin who want to get some missions in, to head out soon," Kotetsu said. He took the scroll from Raidou before handing him a scroll for a simple escort mission to Sand for one of the Hyuuga elders. He pulled out a list of free Genin teams and those who were looking for some longer termed missions, writing down a small list that would be good to do so.

He would send out the notes to the possible teams to come in for a mission if they wanted the long one.

Izumo just smiled and sat down in his own chair, groaning as he shifted around, wiggling until he could find a comfortable position. Genma hadn't been the only one of them who had bottomed and the senbon user was actually wider than Kotetsu so he was still feeling that stretch. "So, tell me, what are you guys up to? Beyond hating being a shinobi during a sudden heat wave," he drawled.

"Making a lot of money off of you and Genma," Iruka stated as he reached into a pocket, pulling out the cut of money that he had gotten that morning from the nin's who had placed bets. "And as usual, your cuts. We actually made a nice sum, so much so that I can actually afford to replace my couch and my bed frame the next time that I'm off," he said. Neji looked up from his book, drawing Izumo's and Genma's eyes, not having really noticed him there.

"What bet is this?" he asked, Genma and Izumo smirking before sharing a look. The smirk and the way their eyes glinted made a flush spread over his cheeks as he blinked over at the two of them. He was hardly an innocent virgin, having had his fair share of lovers and playmates of his time, but to see such an absolutely filthy smirk on Izumo's face made him shift a bit in his seat.

"The idiots at the bar last night decided to bet just who would top who. Since we were able to somewhat slip our leashes last night, we all went out. Or rather, we were at least able to slip those of our watchful Jounin guards, we had ANBU instead," Raidou drawled as he continued to go through the missions before him. "These two though were stalked by one, of course, and Lee was happily in the trees earlier this morning during our shift at the front gate."

"We were tailed by an ANBU. The guy asked around midnight if he could just sit in the apartment since it would be easier for him to watch over us since you ended up having to watch Kotetsu and Raidou when Anko ate that dango," Izumo said. "Rat-san really does hate those seals though. But he did learn that they're really good when it comes to alerting us when someone comes in through anything but the door there, Neji, so thanks." He smirked. "He found out by nearly becoming a pin cushion courtesy of Genma."

"It's not my fault that he crawled in through a window in the middle of a damn blow job," Genma whined, watching as Neji blushed and hid behind his book again. "You'd think that an ANBU would know that he should announce his presence to an apartment where two fully training shinobi are busy."

"He did learn that lesson quickly though when one of your senbon came within millimeters of neutering him," Izumo snickered at him. He shook his head with an amused look on his face. "Rat-san decided that sitting in the recliner in the living room with a nice hot pot of tea and his reports to be done was a pretty good idea instead of slinking in every so often. Found him this morning complaining about cruel bosses and way too much paperwork."

"You did make him a rather nice bento to take home with himself," Genma teased, watching as Izumo sniffed in disdain much to the groups amusement. Neji was wondering why it was he had to pull the short straw for being their babysitter, and wondering where Genma and Izumo's ANBU guards had headed off to.

"Don't forget that I made you a bento too," Izumo replied, poking at Genma's side as Naruto came out of the storage room to finally flop down into his chair with a groan. "Hey, Naruto, did you bet?" he asked. Naruto reached into a pocket of his flak jacket and pulled out a small roll of money, tossing it to Izumo.

"There, split it between the two of you. I made a killing and now I'm able to stock up on my personal supplies when I can stand to look at a supply store again," Naruto grunted at them. "And I really didn't need to know about your sex lives by the way."

Genma snickered at him as he took the roll from Izumo and split it between the two of them, the younger counting out his full winnings with a smirk. "How did they figure out just who it was?"

"Kotetsu told everyone this morning after he had to run back to grab a pair of underwear and you told him," Naruto admitted as he sat up straight again. "He had a giant crowd just waiting for him at the gate when he got there. So he told them, collected the money and went about his day." He snorted at the curious looks that were thrown his way. "I was on my way to breakfast since we're out of eggs at the house. I got my cut when I passed by and gave Iruka-san here part of it for his advice on who to bet on."

Neji groaned at the conversation and closed his book. "Are none of you as innocent as you all seem?" he whined, the group turning to stare at him.

"Nearly all of us have fucked or been fucked in some way or another, Neji-san," Iruka told him, sounding much like the teacher that he was. "We are still nin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, despite the fact that we do tend to work at the desks most of the time. We do need our own stress relief. And we're still on the younger side, at least young enough to want to explore and learn," he continued.

Neji stared at him before he narrowed his eyes, catching on to the 'nearly all of us' part, frowning as Naruto blushed and shuffled through the pile of missions before him. "Wait…"

"Nearly all of us?" Raidou asked as he looked at Iruka from where he had moved onto to organize the various files that were due to be put away. "Who hasn't...Naruto? Really?" he asked, looking at the young blond.

"What?" Naruto huffed, narrowing his eyes at the other male. "I somehow had time to find someone to screw around with? First I was training to be a full blow nin with Sasuke and Haruno. Then I had to try to get the idiot back from the snake. Then I was working on training with Jiraiya, who by the way got more than enough for the both of us. All the while, I have a group of walking dick who want the fuzz ball that is sealed in my stomach," he snorted, listing things off. "And then I become a Chunin while out of Leaf, and take on a desk position. Oh yes, I had lots of time to lose such a thing like my virginity." He rolled his eyes.

The group just stared at him in surprise, Neji's book thumping onto the floor at the thought of a very virgin Naruto.

"Well now. Ain't that a damn shame?" Raidou snorted, everyone looking at him as he shook his head and continuing to work through the files. "All that stamina and no lover's to help use it up. I'm going to say that whoever finally manages to land you as theirs will have a lot of fun."

Naruto just groaned, blushing as he went back to the missions, Gai walking in with his mission report in hand. He had gone out on a short overnight mission while Iruka and Naruto had been watched over by an ANBU the night before, and he had arrived in the village nearly an hour before. He had stopped just long enough to shower and write his report.

"Greetings, my youthful friends!" he boomed. A pot of specialized chakra ink, still sealed luckily, hit him straight on, taking him down as Iruka lowered his hand and sighed.

"Use your inside voice, Gai-san," he stated, Gai holding up one hand in an 'okay' position.

"Of course, Iruka-san. How could I forget that rule?" Gai gurgled before he stood up straight and gently checked his nose to make sure that it wasn't broken. Finding that it wasn't, he used the small bit of healing that he had learned over the years to stop the trickle of blood, and to get the swelling around his nose and cheeks down. "My report," he said, his voice muffled by his glowing hand, handing over the report to Naruto.

He figured that the young blond was the safer option at the moment.

"Thank you, Gai-san," Naruto said as he looked over the report, smiling at how neat it was. "Stopped for a quick bite to eat as you wrote your report?" he asked as he stamped it and stuck it into the proper box.

"Indeed I did," Gai chuckled as he smiled brightly. "Do you have need of me for anything, Naruto-san? Iruka-san?" he asked.

"Nope. It seems that you're free for another six hours, or until me and Naruto are done with work, Gai-san. Go on home, water your plants, and do some laundry. Our washer unfortunately died a horrible death and won't be fixed until next week when we can take it in," Iruka told him. Gai nodded and beamed before he left the mission room.

Via the window.

Iruka sighed and shook his head. "I really wish they wouldn't do that."

"You and everyone else who works the desk," Izumo huffed at him. "Still, our blond foxy one here hasn't gotten pinned to the closest surface and fucked bowlegged?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

Naruto groaned at his words while Neji twitched, shoving the images they brought up into the back of his mind for later enjoyment.


	22. Our Truth 23

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 23

Characters: Izumo, Naruto, Iruka

Word count: 2,395

Warnings: Nothing

AN: Hmm, not sure what to say really. I'm kind of tired and rewatching GG13 youtube videos while I write. So much fun. Really.

Yeah, no. Enjoy the story.

* * *

It took three days before Izumo, Iruka, and Naruto all had a corresponding day off together, the two 'mother hens' of the desk Chunin's wanting to talk with Naruto about his history. To be precise, why he hadn't ever taken the time to explore his own sexuality. Even Sasuke had done that while he had been with Orochimaru.

When they had found that little fact out, they had wondered just what the guy had learned. At least for a full ten seconds. After that they had decided that not thinking too hard on that particular topic was a good idea.

At the moment though, Naruto had laid out on their couch with Gai upstairs, tending to his weapons. Izumo was smirking at Iruka while they worked on making snacks in the kitchen. "You're just gonna have to ask him. You do know this right?" Izumo asked as he poured iced tea into tall glasses, Iruka placing sticks of cheese onto a platter along some vegetables and crackers.

"I really don't want to but I suppose that I should do it. Especially since he had Jiraiya-san as his teacher for three long years," Iruka sighed as he pouted, finishing his arranging on the food. "Who knows what that man taught him during that time. It could be all of the wrong information for him."

"Thus the reason why we're hanging out today while Gai does whatever he's doing upstairs. I think that he was talking about doing his equipment maintenance since his mission went sideways and the medical staff put him on light duty only for a few days," Izumo said. He shook his head before smiling softly at his friend. "Come on. Let's get this show on the road."

"Yeah, yeah," Iruka sighed as he picked up the food platters, Izumo grabbing the glasses with an easy movement, the two heading into the living room. Izumo smiled as Naruto slowly stretched out his body with a groan, the young man sighing happily as he went limp back into the comfort of the couch. He had pulled on a pair of pants the color of pumpkins and a shirt that was more burnt orange than anything else.

Naruto may have burned the eye-searing orange jump suit that he had been forced to wear as a kid, and later left the black outfit with the orange panels that he had worn for a while there behind and picked up a sedate clothing style. But at home? It was always various shades of dark oranges in comfortable clothing styles.

"You seriously are absolutely adorable," Izumo cooed as Naruto flipped to lay on his side, scratching at his stomach as he huffed and stared at him with tired eyes.

"I am not adorable, you jerk. Adorable is when Genma goes full on mother hen on you again. And we _all_ know that's where you two learned to do it," Naruto said, Izumo and Iruka chuckled softly and sat down.

Izumo put the glasses of tea down before finding his own seat on the floor pillows, sliding Naruto's over to his side of the coffee table. Iruka sat on one to before he put the platter of food down. "Just be glad that he hasn't flat out packed us all up and settled into his house," he snorted. "Raidou had to talk him out of that after that last attempt. We had to promise that if it happened again, we would each have a full time Jounin guard and move in here with you and Iruka. And that he and Raidou would be able to join us," Izumo drawled.

"I swear, mother hens, the lot of ya," Naruto chuckled as he wiggled down into the couch some more. Iruka snorted and shifted so that he could pull a blanket over Naruto, watching as he curled up under it.

"You are so much like a cat it's not funny. Happy and content when you're warm, pissy when you're forced to do something you don't want to do," Iruka teased.

"Not like a cat. I'm more like a fox and we all know it," Naruto snorted as he wiggled his foot at his friend. Izumo chuckled and nodded his head in agreement of that particular observation, sipping his tea.

Iruka huffed at them as he curled his feet next to his hips on his pillow, leaning back against the recliner. "Naruto, I have to ask something of you and I'm hoping that you don't think it's because we're trying to pry but rather because we're worried," he started.

Naruto sighed softly as he sat up on the couch. "Is this about my lack of sexual history?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend and roommate. Izumo snorted and nodded his head as he smirked at Iruka.

"I swear that this guy could outstrip the Uchiha's in brains if he had been allowed to learn like the rest of the academy students," Izumo said, causing Naruto to blush softly. Reaching out, he picked up a stick of cheese and a couple of long, thin crackers from the platter. "At least this will end up being easier than we thought it would be."

"Would you just ask me already?" Naruto asked, rolling his eyes as his friend's antics.

Izumo and Iruka traded looks with each other before the younger of the two snorted. "Alright, alright, I'm asking, I'm asking," Iruka growled as Izumo smirked smugly at him. "What is it that you want to know about sex?"

"I know all of the usual precautions and styles of sex by the way. I did ask Shizune to tell me when I came back from my training with Jiraiya. It wasn't like the books that he writes was worth the paper that it's printed on in regards to actual sex and all that. She sat me down and went over it in medical terminology and from the emotional standpoint," Naruto promised, getting a smile from the two men.

"But you've still never had any kind of sex? At all?" Izumo asked, Naruto shaking his head in return.

"Yeah, never. Granted, I've jerked off. I am a healthy young man who has a demon sealed away in my soul after all, so I have to do something to kill all of that stress," Naruto sighed, picking up his cup of tea and draining half of it. "But have I kissed someone? A few times, once on accident when I was pushed into Sasuke's mouth. Though I really wouldn't call that a kiss, much less amazing." He snorted. "As for sex, nope, never. I want something more than just a quick fuck, which is pretty much the only thing I've been offered," he sighed.

"You want an actual relationship, like Raidou's and Genma's relationship is, despite how open it is," Iruka summarized.

Naruto smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I want a partner that I can come home to. To have hold me close at night and not see just the fact that I hold Kurama in me," he sighed as he played with his glass. "I actually had a huge ass crush on Kankuro. He was good looking in his own way the last time that I saw him but that was nearly a year and a half ago when we went to stop Gaara from being taken by whoever it was that tried for him." He shifted. "We think it was Akatsuki but they went to ground before Jiraiya could find out anything about them." He shook his head. "Anyways."

"And during most of that time you were working on learning the ins and outs of being a desk Chunin," Iruka mused. "Do you think that he's still good looking?" he asked.

"I do, but then again I've only seen him from a distance the last two times that he, Temari-chan, and Gaara came around for talks. I've only actually seen Gaara up close and personal really," he admitted, shrugging one of his shoulders. "So I can't really tell you about that. And the crush did fall to the wayside since I was doing nothing much training and shit. I've never really had any time to think about anything since I got back."

"I'm hoping that after we deal with this idiot who is trying to fuck around with the Archives, we'll both have some time to find someone to actually date in the long term," Iruka snorted. He reached out and snagged a bell pepper slice, biting it in half.

"After all of this is fixed, Raidou and Genma have promised to cover your shifts at the mission desk for a week so you guys only have to worry about the academy and whatever it is you do," Izumo said, smirking.

Naruto sighed happily at the thought of getting free. "Then I hope that we can get it over with soon. I don't want to deal with any of this crap for very long and we're going to have to if whoever keeps trying for the Archives don't stop," he said. He shook his head with a snort of dislike as he grabbed some bell pepper. "Here's hoping that we can get this guy and soon."

"I have an odd feeling that I do know who it is but I think I need to talk with Ibiki-san about it first," Iruka admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "But after all of this time, I'm going to find someone to date, even if it just for a short time. And maybe find a sex partner that I like while I look for someone to date," he drawled. "But still, you have never once kissed outside of a scattered few times?"

Naruto shook his head, well used to the sudden turns and returns of their conversations, smirking at his friend. "Nope. No one ever really showed any interest in me outside of a one night stand, and no one drew my eye enough for me to want to try. Even when I was traveling. Of course it didn't help that I was working on finding my balance with Kurama when I discovered that he wasn't a total dick. And then he discovered that most of my idiocy came from lack of any kind of proper training so he started on that," he continued. "It just never really came up and it's not like I know what I'm missing. It never seemed all that important to pursue at the time."

"It is quite fun, but I suppose at the time it wouldn't have been important," Izumo drawled. Iruka sighed and nodded his head with a slow smirk. "But I can tell you right now, it's so much fun when it's with a hot lover who know's how to make love, fuck, or be fucked," he said, Naruto looking at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"What the difference? I keep hearing the terms, but…" Naruto started, trailing off at the curious looks. "What's the difference between fucking and making love?" he clarified.

Iruka and Izumo shared another look before Izumo huffed and pouted. "Fine, I'll explain it to him," he said, shaking his head. "Fucking is just that. It's down and dirty fun. Making love is something more. It's not slow all the time, but it's fun and full of laughter. Fucking is more about getting off with your partner, not a lot of emotions going on. Sometimes fucking can be making love if it's between two lover's who are together and love each other. It's about the emotions between them." He smiled and sat back on one hand. "Pretty much the difference is the urge to just scratch an itch and having a connection with your partner."

"I see." Naruto blinked over at his friends before he smiled softly and shook his head, blond hair falling into his eyes. "No wonder you're always so damn happy when you get back on duty after a shared day off. Or whenever you guys get back from separate missions," he teased.

"Oh just fuck off, Naruto," Izumo snickered, an amused smile pulling at his lips as he tossed a bit of his leftover cheese at Naruto in retaliation. "So, how about today, we finish off the last of what you need to finish learning before your last test? Yeah, you still have a few weeks yet, but you will want some time to really make sure that everything has settled and is organized," he said.

"And this right here is where it's awesome to have a biju sealed into my soul," Naruto chirped. "He's willing to help with getting my brain in control and everything put away," he told them, wiggling his eyebrows at the two. "I'm almost done with the last of the information. Actually I was just finishing it up when I noticed that I had Kabuto running around in various memories." He frowned to himself before he shrugged.

"Hey, any advantage is a good one in this world," Iruka instructed before he stood up and moved to the scrolls that sat in a sealed box. The scrolls were a Chunin's instruction scrolls and only a Chunin who had been instated could open them. There was a reason why most desk Chunin's who were in training often moved in with their mentor during their learning period. It made doing their studies that much easier. "Come on, it's just the last of it. And then you can sit there and review to your heart's content."

"Oh but the fun and joy of it all," Naruto snorted, sarcasm dripping from every word as he rolled his eyes. "All right! Torture me with the last of the rules that we live by! Make Kurama cry in my soul from the tedium," he said, watching as Iruka open the scroll in his hand and unravel it. He could barely hear Kurama scream in horror in the back of his head, running away to hide in his private area in his mind, horrified about having to deal with more rules.

Naruto snickered silently and took the scroll, settling in to read over it as Izumo and Iruka sat next to him to help him go over the information in the scroll.


	23. Our Truth 24

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 24

Characters: Kankuro, Gaara, Temari

Word count: 1,795

Warnings: Nothing

AN: I slept so damn hard but that was because I had a slight fever and took an ibu with a stronger baclophen, which is a muscle relaxant that is PRESCRIBED to me. Yes, I take prescription drugs. Yes, my doctor knows because she's the only doc that I go to.

I take them maybe once or twice a week even though I deal with Chronic Pain and should be taking my pain killers ever few hours really. I just hate taking pills.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story. Sorry about the rant. Just kind of sleepy after such hard sleep.

* * *

Staring at the smirking messenger nin from Konoha, Kankuro shook his head and snorted softly as he took the sealing scrolls that the man held out to him. "Who knew that those Chunin of yours had all the fun," he drawled, watching the smirk turn into a wary smile.

"Yeah. But I have ta tell ya, those Jounin who are playing babysitter to them are walking around looking like they got hit by a flashbomb up close and personal," the messenger told him, shrugging. "Then again, now that people are actually, we've all noticed that they're not all that prim and proper. At least not how they make themselves look. Much less as innocent as they did. It's kind of fun to see what they'll say next. Though if they're having to recreate files, run for the hills and hide until they've all gotten some sleep and the paperwork done. The last guy to piss them off while they were doing a mass recreate nearly got neutered," he snorted as he held out a smaller scroll.

Kankuro snickered and pressed his pointer finger down onto the scroll where the messenger pointed, infusing the print with chakra. The paper glowed before the print settled, leaving it behind looking neon green. "I'll keep that fact in mind. Have fun with your return trip," he drawled, the messenger nodding.

"I'll be in town for a couple of nights since I need to gather my chakra back up for the return trip. All of us messengers have been doing a lot of carrier missions lately, and the Hokage told me to take a couple days in village before I have to head back," the guy said. Kankuro nodded his head.

"I know that the usual inn has a few rooms, so you'll be good for the time being," he said, pulling out a pen and paper, scrawling a note. "Here, give the innkeeper this and he'll even knock off some ryo for you. It's the least that I can do for some fresh gossip. I know that my sister will be cackling for days after this."

The messenger once more smirked before saluting him and walking off to find the inn, humming. Kankuro shook his head at the man before he headed back into the main tower, walking up the stairs to Gaara's office, feeling Temari already there. They were probably going over the newest Genin team pairings, shaking things up from the best. The tests were getting rather interesting, mixing and matching to see who worked best with who, and what combinations worked best.

It was starting to look as if the tests were making the team's stronger, which made the entire village happy. And if it did pan out for them, Konoha would be implementing the tests themselves with their own tweaks to fit into their own traditions.

Walking into Gaara's office, he waved the scroll with a smile. "Communications about the current tests of the Konoha Genin teams that they're testing, along with letters," Kankuro greeted as he unrolled the scroll out onto a long table along one wall. Gaara put the pile of papers before him to one side, smiling very slightly at his brother.

"Do we have any letters in there from Naruto?" he asked. He watched as Kankuro unsealed the various piles of letters and scrolls.

Kankuro shifted through them, the business scrolls and packets landing in a basket that Gaara would go through at a later time with the help of his siblings. The personal letters were dished out according to the name on the front of them. Each of them had a small pile, Gaara more so seeing as he had gathered quite a few friends and had a friend with benefits that he kept in touch with often. This included one Inuzuka Kiba, which had surprised Temari and Kankuro into silence when they had found out about that fact.

"A lot of letters," Kankuro drawled as he handed Temari her small pile and handing Gaara his pile and taking the two letters that were labeled with his name. "Hey, would ya look at that? There's one from Naruto," he said, sitting down on the couch next to Temari, staring at the thick letter.

"I have one from him too," Gaara said, holding up a thicker letter with a raised eyebrow. "I wonder what he's writing to us about this time," he mused, opening it up with a flick of his fingers. He found that it contained letters that spanned the last six months. The time that he had started his training as a desk Chunin. "Six months worth of letters actually."

Kankuro grunted and nodded his head. "Same here," he said, flipping through the pages, scanning as he settled in to read. Gaara did the same with his own letter while Temari read over the letters that she had been sent with a frown on her lips.

Kankuro frowned to himself as he read over the letter and the subtle hints of what was going on up until he came to the letters over the last month and some odd days. He read about the attack on Naruto that had happened, the younger male playing off a courier mission gone wrong. He was easily able to read between the lines of the letter.

"Well, fuck," he got out, shaking his head. He looked up and caught the way Gaara's eyes narrowed at his own letter. "Think that there's something more than what he said going on there?" he asked.

"I know so. At least from what Naruto isn't telling us," Gaara said, hunting through the pile of letters for the letter from Tsunade. Opening it, he started to read what she had wrote to him, the letter thankfully shorter since their correspondence happened at least once a week. "I'm starting to think that we may just have to head to see them. To discuss the new nin exchange that is coming to happen soon," he drawled musingly after having read the letter.

"Something is going on?" Temari asked him, having not really seen anything in the letters about anything different. Outside of the odd note that the career desk Chunins were all acting funny.

"Something big I do believe," Gaara replied as he stood up to go through the basket of scrolls that held the various business communications that happened between him and Tsunade. Finding the one that he wanted, he sat back down and opened it with a careful application of chakra, opening it up and frowning at it. "Let me see…" he mused aloud.

Reading over the information on the scroll before him, he grabbed a smaller one out of his drawer and started to write out a new communication. Temari just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Want me to take that out to a messenger bird?" she asked him.

Gaara grunted in reply. "I think that we need to actually go there. Matsuri can handle the day to day things while Baki handles the bigger things in my stead," he stated. Kankuro and Temari shared a look before nodding. "I'll send this with a summon. It'll be quicker."

"I'll go get you Matsuri then. She's training today with her old team," Temari said as she stood up, tucking her read letters into a hip pouch.

"I'll go and warn Baki then. He's gonna have to cover for you with the two meetings with the council after all," Kankuro snorted. He stood up next to his sister and headed to do that with a nod. Gaara grunted as they left, finishing off the letter telling Tsunade that he would be in Konoha in a weeks time to discuss the trade talks face to face. It was about time to meet her anyways.

Temari just rolled her eyes, waiting until she was handed the sealed missive, heading out to send it off with one of her summons before heading off to grab Matsuri from the training grounds. Gaara stood from his desk and left the office, heading for his personal rooms to start packing up for the trip. He wouldn't be taking much all things considering, none of them would, but sealing scrolls came in handy for carrying what they wanted.

Packing up some clothes, extra Kage robes and normal everyday wear, extra weapons in case something went sideways during the trips, plus a few other needed items, Gaara smirked. He had plans on pinning one of his partners in Konoha to a wall and fucking them into submission once he got done with the start of things, so he would need things to do so. Like condoms and lube.

Gaara tilted his head to the side as he heard Kankuro walk past his door, smirking even wider at the sounds. He knew that his brother had been looking at Naruto off and on for the last few years, ever since he had swung by to visit after a short trip to the colder parts of the continent. He knew that his friend had grown up to be quite pretty in a masculine kind of way, especially with his wide eyes that screamed innocence, despite how a shinobi lived his life.

He had to wonder though if his brother would actually get his head out of his ass this time and either pounce or date Naruto. Maybe he would be able to pop Naruto's cherry, so to speak, and make him limp for days afterwards. Considering that Kankuro was going to be one of the nins to stay behind while someone came home with him. It would be an opportune time to do so.

"Maybe I'll bribe that Sai to take some pictures of Naruto in various states of undress. He wouldn't mind doing that for me. And I could always stick them in various places where Kankuro will come across them," he mused to himself before chuckling. Temari shuddered as she passed by his door, knowing that chuckle way too well to feel safe about whatever he was planning. Stopping for a second in front of the door, she wondered who her brother's new victim would be this time.

She decided quickly that running for her bedroom would be a smart idea.

Kankuro paused in his packed as he felt a shiver of dread and anticipation skitter down his spine as he sealed away a few jars of oil that he rather liked into a smaller sealing scroll. "Someone is either going to die, going to fuck, _get_ fucked, or all three during this trip," he drawled. His eyes darted around the room before shaking his head. "Yeah, Gaara is plotting shit again. Fuck."


	24. Our Truth 25

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 25

Characters: Zabuza, Haku

Word count: 1,659

Warnings: Nothing

AN: Well, well, who do we have here? That's right, we have a Zabuza and Haku!

I hope you guys enjoy because I am tired. Seriously, haven't slept at all and don't think I'll be getting much sleep at all because of my legs. *flails*

Still, I hope you enjoy! And yes, I read each and every review that comes into my inbox. Thank you all for them. They mean a lot.

* * *

"Zabuza-sama, we have a visitor."

Looking up from his sword that he was sharpening, Zabuza grunted at his young lover, watching him pet a dog that looked vaguely familiar. "Isn't that the cyclop's mutt?" he asked Haku.

Haku sent him a dark look as Pakkun growled. "His name is Pakkun, Zabuza-sama, and he is here to deliver a letter. Pakkun, would you like something to eat before you head back home?" he asked.

The pug shook his head with a doggy smile. "Nah, I'm good. Thanks though," Pakkun said, standing to give himself a quick shake. "He'll expect your answer to come back another way unfortunately," he drawled. "I've been having to run around contacting friends for a while for some odd reason. I'm goin' home now though."

"Of course, Pakkun. It was rather nice to see you again," Haku told him, standing up from where he had been kneeling at the door, letter in hand. He gave his lover and master a look.

"Yeah, see ya," Zabuza grunted as Haku closed the door after Pakkun disappeared with a pop of smoke. Moving to sit down next to Zabuza, he opened the letter and pulled out the neat pages of writing. The large man sighed and put his sword to the side knowing that he wasn't going to be able to continue his sharpening for the moment. "How did the cyclops find out about us bein' alive ayways?" he grunted.

"As he says right at the start of his letter, he is the Copy-Cat Nin: Kakashi Hatake, and he can tell a mix of blood and water clones from a human being," Haku stated. He read over the information laid out. "That and when they broke down, it seeped up a little through the graves. As for why he sent us a letter, he's curious as to if we have heard anything about the Chunins of his village," he said as he handed over the first page of the letter. "From what he says, there's been a lot of rumors that are going around. Jiraiya-sama and Kakashi-san are both touching base with their trusted informants, or even people they know, to find out if those rumors had slipped past the walls." He frowned. "It seems as if Naruto-kun is one of the Chunins in question."

Zabuza frowned as he took the rest of the letter when it was offered by his small lover. "Apparently he's looking for anything about the career Chunin of the village." He looked down at Haku with a slightly curious look. "What do ya know about them?" he asked. He knew that his mate would know more about that particular subject. He seemed to just know all sorts of things that others didn't.

Thinking about his answer, Haku stood and walked into their bedroom, hunting down a particularly small scroll that sealed his journals away, keeping them safe. "Found you, you little pain," he muttered when he found it, walking back out and unsealing the books. Taking his seat once more, he flipped through them. "I know that I have something in here about them."

Zabuza snorted at him and allowed his lover to shift through the pages to fine the ones that had the information that he wanted for the moment. While Haku muttered and riffled through the pages, he picked his sword up again and rewrapped it, standing up to put it onto it's stand. "Find it?" he asked when saw that Haku had started to smirk at his notebook, amused by the fact that he was smirking.

"Of course I did. Let's see. As far as anyone knows or care, career Chunin, also known as the desk jockeys, of Konohagakure are just that. Desk jockeys. They don't have anything amazing about them. They do all of the paperwork and they're well known to be amazingly picky about said paperwork. It's actually interesting about how little we know about them," Haku snickered, shaking his head. "The thing is, they have access to all of this data and people really don't stop to think that they wouldn't know anything?" he asked, looking up at Zabuza.

The Demon of the Mist just blinked at his lover, just staring as his brain worked over what Haku had told him. "Oh you have got to be fuckin' around with me," he finally snorted, frowning. "Are you tellin' me that those damn Chunin of theirs probably know more than what they show to the rest of the world?" he asked.

Haku nodded his head. "Yeah. If you really think about it, they're the ones who take the mission reports and have to read them to file in their proper places. It's the same way in every village that I've seen. At least for the most part. But Konoha's career Chunins take it to the extreme when it comes to their files. Ten to one, those desk Chunins of theirs are their failsafe that can't be touched by anyone." He smirked as he closed his journal. "I'm thinking that not even their Hokage can stop them if they have a valid reason for what they need to do."

Zabuza smirked, nodding. "Oh but that is very interesting." He snorted as he slumped in his seat. "So, have you heard anything interesting about them? More specifically, about our dear Naruto?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

Haku shook his head with a huff. "Not anything different than what I've always heard about him. He's scary strong, has gotten even better at fighting, and is getting better with his stealth every day that he lives. He's gotten really, really good since the whole thing with the last try for the Jinchuriki's," he mused. He nibbled at his bottom lip, tapping his notebook against the palm of his hand. "I don't actually write down everything that I hear about him because I memorize it. And anytime that I get a letter from one of my contacts with new information or rumor, I write down the other information but burn the letter after memorizing the stuff about him," he admitted.

"I figured," Zabuza snorted, reaching out and tugging Haku down into his lap, one big hand resting on a lean hip. "Tell me, lover, what do you think is going on there in the Hidden Leaf?"

Haku hummed in thought as he settled onto his lover's lap, shrugging. "I don't really know actually. It seems as if they're going through some troubles going on there. And it's all centering around the career chunis of the village from what I could tell from Kakashi-san's letter. Maybe we can get in to see their Hokage, see if we can't somehow help them?" he asked, tilting his head. "It shall be something to do, that's for sure."

"I'm sure," Zabuza huffed, looking around their temporary home base before he sighed. "Fine. You get to write to that Lady Hokage of theirs though. Explain to her who we are, what happened during our so called deaths, and I'll start ta gather up everything," he grunted.

"Yes, Zabuza-san," Haku said, smiling as he stood and moved to the table where he had several papers laid out over it. Most of the papers were information for various job offers for them under working names, names that they had created long before Zabuza had tried to create a revolution in Mist. Sitting down, he gathered the offers up into a pile, placing them neatly onto one of his seals along a travel scoll, sealing them away for the moment.

He would have to go through them later on since none of them were needed to be done at the moment.

Pulling some paper to him, and picking up a pen, Haku set about to write a letter that spoke of Team 7's mission to Wave so long ago and what had happened on their end. Including that they had used blood and water mixed together, which had been an interesting bit of work that had taken them years to perfect. But they had been able to use the clones to get away from Team 7, Gato, and the Kiri Hunter Nins that had been after them.

He continued the letter with the explanation as to why they had gone to ground the way they had, and that they were willing to help if she felt that they would be useful. Either way, they were still coming to the village to see Naruto, who they both missed in their own way.

Once he was done, he folded the letter up, tucked it into an envelope, sealed it with some wax and chakra, and called up one of his own summons. The rather cute barn owl clicked her beak at him in greeting. "Take this to the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves please. You don't have to wait around if she doesn't answer right away," he instructed as he tucked the letter into a small pouch, placing it onto the owl. "I have no doubt that she will be able to send her own summons if she does want to send us a message." She clicked her beak again. Standing up from the table, he opened a window for her to leave through and moved to help his lover pack and seal their things for travel.

He had learned when he had been young that Zabuza could pack for a long mission with no worries, but he couldn't pack up their life to save his life. So Haku often was the one who did so, making sure that everything that they would need was kept within easy reach while the rest was sealed away. The scrolls were then tucked into various pockets and bags according to what they held.

It was still highly amusing that his lover still had such a weakness, especially after so many years together.


	25. Our Truth 26

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 26

Characters: Kurama, Naruto, Iruka, Gai

Word count: 2,206

Warnings: Nothing

AN: Can we all say "Exhausted writer is exhausted"? Yeah, I bet we can. To be blunt, I'm so tired that yesterday I laid down at 6PM Arizona time. I didn't twitch until about 3 and that was to go to the bathroom. I crawled out of bed around 10AM this morning.

I was that tired. Then again, 24 hours without an ounce of sleep and living off of soda and water to stay awake is not happy making for my body now days. Chronic pain is exhausting okay?

Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoy.

* * *

Staring at a list in his hand, Kurama grumbling in his head about it, Naruto sighed and bit at his bottom lip as he tried to think about just who it was who could be out to get them. Despite their lives, it was a rather short list. There just weren't that many people who would be all that interested in the Archives. Much less the desk Chunins who took care of the files within.

Naruto sighed again and let his head thump onto the table as he groaned in distaste. "Fuck, what are we going to do now?" he asked. Kurama growled, making Naruto snort and form a clone, wrapping a seal around its wrist to allow the fox to take it over. "We have got to find a better way for you to take a physical form," he complained.

"You're still reading those sealing scrolls that your mother kept from Uzushio right?" Kurama asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Naruto huffed at him. "Of course I am, and you know it. But with everything that has been going on in the last couple of weeks, all I've been able to do is get home and fall into bed," he said. "I've just barely gotten this temporary seal tested and ready for you to use as it is," he continued. He held up the list and pointed at it. "Now help me with this, fuzzball. Iruka is with Gai-san at his 'personal' apartment tonight. The poor guy needed a night at home to get some of his paperwork done. Said something about trying to get laid too."

"I really didn't need to know that about your brother," Kurama drawled, shaking his head with a growl. "Blood or not, I really, really did not need to know that. Who do you have on that list of yours?" he asked, changing the topic and trying to get rid of his thoughts of Iruka and getting laid.

He may be a fox made of chakra, and well known to be all about the sex, but even he had come to think of the scarred man in a brotherly fashion.

"I have on this list Orochimaru, Danzo, the Akatsuki, the bastards that they are, and a few other idiots who want to get in. Like the Iwa Kage. But I don't think that he's that much of an idiot to try for us. Even he stares at Iruka warily when all he is doing is smiling sweetly," Naruto snorted. He shook his head as he tapped his pen on the desk again.

"Maybe it's someone from another village?" Kurama suggested. He sat down, going through their shared memories together before they shook their heads.

"Nah. No one from another village would be stupid enough at the moment. Most of them wouldn't deal with small fries or try for us right now," Naruto snorted as he leant back. "I might have to go bug Iruka before he goes out to do whatever it is he's wanting to do."

Kurama grunted and yanked at the seal on his wrist, allowing the clone to pop and his soul to drop back into Naruto's mindscape once more. " _I'll work on figuring out who is possibly after the information on you and yours_ ," he promised.

"Thanks," Naruto sighed. Grabbing the list up and smoothing down his day kimono, not having planned on leaving the house, he stood up. But since he had to deal with the thoughts going around in his head sooner than later, he decided to get it done and over with before it drove him nuts. With a sigh of unhappiness, he tucked away some kunai and such around in his kimono sleeves and obi before he left with said list in hand.

Leaving the house and grounds, shutting the gate behind him, Naruto started to walk down the street, his hands tucked up into his sleeves as he thought about what he knew. He missed some of his fellow shinobi walking into poles or walls as he walked past them. He also missed some of the civilian's staring at him, distracted by his thoughts enough that he didn't see how him dressing in such relaxed clothing were affecting those around him.

Kurama though was snickering. Loudly.

Arriving at Iruka's apartment, telling Kurama to shut up, he knocked on the door as he frowned down at the rather short list. "Naruto? What brings you here?" Iruka asked as he opened the door, standing before him in his own day kimono.

"I have something that I need to run past you," he admitted, looking to his friend and brother, smiling. He held up his list and wiggled it. "I've been trying to put this list together since I got attacked, and I may know a lot of names but I'm really not that knowledgeable about who would be stupid enough to come after us." He paused. "Or has the balls to come after us."

Iruka sighed and stepped to the side. "Come on in, you brat. Gai is taking a shower before he heads out for his own night. Apparently he's going to let the ANBU Cat tail me tonight," he drawled in amusement.

"At least Cat isn't all that bad," Naruto said as he stepped into the apartment, kicking his sandals off, shoving them into place next to Iruka's shoes with his feet. "But really? This list is itty bitty with who would be stupid enough to try to come after files in the village, much less think that we have something that they can use."

"Let's sit down first and I'll make some tea for the two of us," Iruka snickered, shaking his head as he lead the way into the kitchen. "Sit down." he pointed to the dining room table with a smile, getting one from Naruto as the young man sat at the traditional table. "So, why don't you tell me the list that you have and the reason as to why you think that they may be possible. And what makes you think that it's not them if you think that," he instructed as he filled the kettle with water.

"Let's see. On my list, how about we go with the obvious people first. Akatsuki is on it. We know that they want power and that they want the Jinjuriki," Naruto said as he sat back in his seat, Iruka pulling down mugs. "But I don't think that it's them."

"Why not?" Iruka prompted as he pulled down a teapot and filled the little basket within with tea leaves.

Naruto snorted as he gathered his thoughts, waiting until Iruka had pulled the kettle off of the burner, ending the sharp whistling, allowing it to cool slightly before he poured the water over the leaves. "Well, I highly doubt that they have the energy or power to break into a village. Much less try to get to a heavily guarded Archival without the solid proof that what they want is within. The leader, from what we've discovered, is a canny bastard. No doubt an insane one, but canny."

"So it is doubtful that they would send someone in to just grab whatever they can grab, huh?" Iruka asked him, Naruto nodding his head. "I suppose that you're right about that. Especially since they're probably still licking their wounds."

"Yep," Naruto said, taking the offered tea cup from Iruka, watching as he poured the tea for the two of them, putting a bottle of honey down, taking it to use. He set it to the side as Iruka poured some sugar and a tiny bit of milk into his own cup. He took the offered long handled spoon and stirred as he thought. "And I know for a fact that it's not Sasuke and his merry bunch. If he wanted information that's in the Archives, he has people who would know that, so he wouldn't need to raid the Archives. So he wasn't even put onto the list in the first place."

"Are you sure about his team?" Iruka asked as he sat down, stirring his tea and adding a bit more milk.

"I know that they wouldn't go against his orders. They're really not that stupid," Naruto snorted as he waved his spoon at the other man. "Karin might push it but even she wouldn't be stupid enough to do something so idiotic. Suigetsu is just one who would want to beat information out of a person instead of going for the papers with the information. And Jungo is very much attached to Sasuke's side. He won't go against his orders. Ever."

Iruka hummed and nodded. "So a solid team then?" he asked as the sound of the bathroom door opening reached them. "It sounds as if Gai has finished his shower."

"I have indeed finished my shower, Iruka-kun," Gai said as he came into the kitchen with a broad grin, rubbing at his head with a towel. Iruka and Naruto watched as he grabbed an apple before heading for the room that he was using while they were there at Iruka's secondary apartment.

Tilting his head to the side, Naruto huffed out a laugh. "We need to get that guy out of his green suit. I did not know that he was _that_ defined under that suit of his," he drawled.

Iruka nodded his head before grinning slightly. "Yeah, seriously," he chuckled before he shook his head. "Enough about the buff Jounin who is leaving me alone with an ANBU for the night. Continue over your list. Who's next on it?" he asked, pointing to the list.

"The snakey one himself, Orochimaru," Naruto said after he looked over his list. "Though I'm really not sure if he would be doing something like this right now." He bit at his bottom lip.

"What makes you think that?" Iruka asked. Naruto sighed softly.

"The last time that me and Jiraiya went up against him," Naruto started, eyebrows furrowing together, "a rather hard hit to his head had him looking more than a little dazed."

"Dazed? Dazed how?" Iruka asked as leant forward, not having heard this report before.

Naruto frowned and waited until they heard Gai leave the apartment with a called out goodbye over his shoulder. "While we were fighting, it seemed as if a hit that had slammed him into a rather hard boulder landed just right to knock his brain around," he said, curling his hands around the tea cup, letting the heat seep into his hands. "He just looked dazed. Surprised at something. I guess you can say lost." He frowned. "I really don't know how to explain it actually. Jiraiya said that he had only seen that look back when they had been teammates and he had done something really stupid."

"So because of this happening, you don't think that Orochimaru would be doing this?" Iruka asked him.

Naruto sipped his tea. "Not just that. It's also not his style to send someone in when he can do it himself instead," he admitted, shrugging one shoulder. "So I highly doubt that it was him. But he's still on the list at the bottom as a maybe."

"Maybe he could be, but like you said, it's not him. Who is the last one on that list of yours?" Iruka looked down at the list and felt his eyebrows raise. "Danzo?"

"You know the same shit as much as I do when it comes to that slimy bastard," Naruto drawled. He tapped his fingers around the cup. "He'll do just about anything if it means that his version of the village comes to be. He's an old war dog and one that should have long ago retired to some pasture." He looked at Iruka with a frown. "We both know that he's tried to get permission to get into the Archives whenever he wants to under the guise of helping the village. But as he's been stopped by you and the Sadamine, he was stopped by our predecessors."

"You think that he sent the idiot in for him?" Iruka asked, scowling at that thought. The two friends turned to a window as it slid open, kunai already in their hands as the snarled.

"I think that you two may be right about him," came the rumble of Cat as he slid into the apartment, closing the window.

"Damn ANBU! Always sneaking into a person's apartment. Do you have some kind of seal in here or something? Get happy when you listen to me have fun?" Iruka snarled, glaring at him with dark eyes.

"We do have a seal and we don't listen in when you're entertaining company. We do not have one in Uzumaki-san's home though," Cat admitted as he stepped down from the seal, fixing his mask. "But I think that I can help you with figuring out for sure if it is Danzo or not who is the one targeting you. Ibiki-san has give us ANBU permission to help the desk Chunin in any way they need."


	26. Our Truth 27

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 27

Characters: Danzo, Kabuto, Orochimaru

Word count: 1,848

Warnings: Nothing

AN: What's this? Are we learning something more about what is going on? Why yes, yes we do!

Enjoy. :D

* * *

Watching as Danzo snarled about the latest mission fail, Kabuto sighed silently and shook his head in the shadows, crossing his arms across his chest. He was starting to wonder just what was going on and what he hadn't been able to learn. Orochimaru had started to change his orders after that last battle against Jiraiya and Naruto. It had left his master thoughtful and going back through his journals and many notes of his life.

Something about the man just felt so different and he had an odd feeling that it was a good thing for his master. And his mental state.

"It seems, Danzo-san, as if using that outside operative has turned out to not be a good thing. Or at least not as much as we had thought that it would be," he said, breaking into Danzo's ranting. Danzo snarled and hurled a sake bottle at a wall, watching as it shattered against it.

"You are right. But still we could have one of our own agents should the worse case scenario happen, which it did," Danzo sighed, rubbing at his face. "And I used the best of our connections, the one who was most likely to get into the Archives." He moved to his desk and sat with a deepening scowl. "But still even he was not able to get away with what we needed. All he _was_ able to do was piss off the chunnin and convince them to tighten security around them even more."

Kabuto tilted his head in thought. "What are we to do now?" he asked, his mind already planning out his letter to Orochimaru. The last time that he had talked with him, he had been instructed to watch the Chunins carefully, along with Danzo. He was to also find out what the old man was planning on doing.

Danzo sighed as he slumped in his chair, rubbing at his head. "I must think about what I will need to do next," he said after thinking. "Everything must be thought about and the plan possibly redone. I will send you a message in the next week. We can not do anything due to the Kazekage and his siblings." He stood and tugged his top into smoothing out again. "I must do my research."

"Of course, Danzo-san. I'll be in my rooms," Kabuto said, bowing before he left the office, heading for his personal rooms. He was grateful that he had a suite to himself, Danzo not caring that he had tossed his roommate out and sealed it against others. He still thought that he was a loyal nin to his cause and that he wouldn't be doing anything that he shouldn't be.

Smirking as he closed the door behind him, Kabuto pulled off his mask, his glasses glinting as he put it on the table by the door. He had around forty more of the masks running around the rooms so that he could be prepared for any and all surprise visits. He left the hair covering on for the moment, not wanting to deal with his hair until later.

"Such a fool," he grunted as he strolled into his bedroom and over to his small desk where a specialized communication scroll sat. Along the edges were finely inked seals that connected the scroll to one that matched in Oto.

Sitting down at his desk, he sighed and pulled out the specialized ink block, a small sharp knife, an ink well that held just a slight amount of water, and a thin tipped brush. All created to be used just with the scroll that sat before him.

Laying everything that he had pulled out carefully, Kabuto used the knife to scrape off enough of the ink block to create a proper ink, shaking the well with cap in place. Putting the well down onto table once he was done, he removed the top and dipped his brush into it before he put bristles to paper and started to write.

 _He had decided to go ahead with research to lay out a new plan._

Pulling his brush back from the scroll, Kabuto watched as the ink glowed before it settled, smirking before he frowned. He had a sudden feeling that he was going to need a lot more ink in the long run. Cursing to himself, he stood and grabbed a cup to get some more water, getting some from the faucet in the bathroom. With water in hand, he walked back to the desk, sitting down and noting that writing was starting to flow across the paper before him.

"I just knew it," he grunted as he poured some more water into the inkwell, judging it enough to get him started on what he needed to write. Picking up the ink block, he scraped some more into the water, once more shaking it until it was mixed properly. Uncapping the well again, he sat it down and re-dipped his brush as he read over the words.

 _Explain it. In detail._

Huffing at the paper, he started to write.

 _He wasn't all that happy about the fact that the man who had been sent to gather the files for him. When I arrived at his office earlier today, he was already in quite the rage. The man, as I said, has not only been caught, but the ones who caught him were desk Chunin, those being Umino Iruka, Uzumaki Naruto, and Kamizuki Izumo._

He paused long enough to allow the ink to settle in while he dipped his brush into the ink to refresh it. He watched as some more words started to appear as he allowed the excess drip off of the bristles.

 _The chunnins have always been on the strong side, surprisingly, no matter what the situation. There is a reason as to why they were chosen to care for the Archives._

 _Continue on._

Kabuto felt his eyebrows raise, not having known that. _Yes, sir. When I arrived there, he was ranting about how the man had been caught and how he was being caught. He then proceeded to destroy a bottle of sake before he took his seat. He didn't give me any information outside of the fact that Ibiki had the guy in his custody now because of them. And the fact that the man hadn't truly been able to gather any papers outside of mission files that were about to be put away from the day._

He paused in his writing, dipping his brush into the ink as the ink glowed again, sending the information to his master.

 _He has decided that the best thing to do is to take a bit of time to replan and research seeing as the Kazekage is coming to the village for discussions. From what I understand it is to discuss the Chunin exchange program that will be starting in a month's time. Due to this, he does not want to draw attention to his plans. This is also compounded by the fact that the Chunins have also tightened security and are being followed by either ANBU or a Jounin at all times._

Kabuto stopped once more, watching as fresh writing started to scroll across the page after his words had glowed. While he did so, he rolled up the bit that he had written on while he was waiting for Orochimaru to finish writing. Seeing that they had stopped, he pulled the scroll a bit closer before he gave in and lit a lantern that sat over his desk with a long match, letting the light fall over the scroll.

 _As I have said, the Chunin are strong and they are chosen for that strength. It is not that surprising though that he wishes to stay out of their sight for the time being. Especially if they're paranoid more so than usual. I know for a fact that to replace files properly, that it takes chakra and skill, and quite a bit of it._

 _Not to mention the supplies needed. The career Chunins of my time were actually nice enough to teach me how to do this when they discovered that any time that I had Jiraiya near me and my reports that I would end up having to rewrite them. I doubt that Danzo will be able to get near them any time soon. If at all._

Kabuto stared at the words in surprise, his mouth falling open in surprise. Shaking his head, he checked the brush, scowling when he found that the ink had dried before swishing it around in the leftover water. Pulling it out, he gently squeezed the bristles before dipping it into the ink again.

 _Sir? What is it that you're thinking of doing_? he asked.

He sat back and watched as Orochimaru's writing filled the empty space again, filling in the details of what he had learned and what he was planning on doing now.

 _It seems as if that fight against those two did dispel a lingering hypnosis from a very familiar Sharingan. I believe that it's been losing its hold for the last ten years due to the fact that I've had to jump five bodies in that time. And the man who put it upon me so many years ago has_ _not_ _been able to exactly reapply it regularly._

Kabuto's eyes widened in his shock at that information. He took a very slow breath and moved his brush to write. _Who did the hypnosis?_ The following answer made the normally calm male yelp and fall backwards in his chair before he scrambled up to make sure that he had read the name correctly.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck." Scrambling for his brush, he dipped it again and wrote out another question. _What do I do now?"_

 _Continue with your watching. Stay out of the way of the Chunins. Continue to write out your daily reports to me and make sure that you answer any questions I send to you. If it does come down to it, you are to help the Chunins in all that they need._

Taking a deep breath, Kabuto nodded to himself before responding. _Yes, sir. If you find that you have need of me, please contact me at any time that you wish._ Rolling up the last of the scroll, he tore off the part that had writing before he unrolled more of the main scroll, standing up, curling the torn off part. Sealing it with some wax, he found his specialized sealing scroll and stored the conversation away for the moment. He would read it over again later.

With that done and the sealing scroll was put away, he rolled his shoulders as he sighed.

"Just so much to do and so very little time," he said to the room in general, looking around with hooded eyes. "Well then, I suppose that I must start now," he drawled as he pulled his mask on, leaving the room to continue to watch.

Just as he had been instructed.


	27. Our Truth 28

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 28

Characters: Kurenai, Hinata, Shino, Kiba,

Word count: 1,877

Warnings: Nothing

AN: So in this one we get to go over a bit more information and return to some old information put into a new perspective.

Now, there is a couple of points I need to go over real fast. 1) Yes, Orochimaru and Kaubto are...good. Well more morally ambigious like most of the nin's that I write are. 2) Yes, Haku and Zabuza are alive and no, Naruto didn't know. Naruto will be discovering this fact VERY soon and Kakashi will be sucking up.

For a long ass time.

3) Yes, I like my redeemed Orochimaru. Go check out blackkat's stuff. I love her stuff and right now I'm reading 'reverse' by her. Lots and lots of chapters.

And part the fourth: I am in a lot of pain. I live in chronic pain. Some days it's better. Some days it's worse. I saw my doctor on Wednesday and adjusted my medication intake so now I'm taking a muscle relaxant 3 times a day with a quarter of my main pain killer that is mostly an anti-inflamatory. When I need it mind you.

I have lost about 10 pounds in the last few months though so happiness!

I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter and I shall see you next time!

* * *

Looking over her teammates, biting into a piece of pork, she chewed as she watched Hinata eat her own food, obviously thinking about something or another. Swallowing, Kurenai waved her chopsticks at the shy Hyuga, getting her attention as she tilted her head. "What are you thinking about over there?" she asked her. Kiba looked over to Hinata, Shino's hidden face turning to her too.

Hinata looked up from her plate, humming in question as she finished chewing her food, swallowing the bite. "I'm thinking about the problems that our desk Chunin have been dealing with lately," she admitted as Kiba snorted.

"Those jerks? Why are you so worried about them?" Kiba asked as he reached out with his chopsticks to snag a dumpling from the communal basket.

Shino snorted at him and grabbed the one that Kiba had been aiming for before the dog nin, giving him a look as he gently pulled the dumpling into two parts. "The Archives have been attacked. Twice. Didn't you hear that? Naruto-kun himself was attacked once and Kotetsu-san was also attacked before hand. They are not very happy and their jobs are busy enough without having to become paranoid." He bit into one half of the dumpling, chewing as the other's stared at him, Kiba glaring at him. He swallowed. "Not to mention the fact that they do have people of certain strength following them now. Even Genma-san and Raidou-san have people following them around."

"You would think that it was the Jounin's who have ta follow these guys around all day would be the ones put out," Kiba drawled as he grabbed a different bun.

"Actually, the job that the desk Chunins do is hard," Hinata said, gently picking up a onigiri with her chopsticks and placing it onto her plate. She reached out and picked up some pork slices next, dipping them into the leftover ramen broth in her bowl, heating them as she thought. "One of my retired cousins was a desk Chunin but he never became a part of the Archival team. From what he was able to tell me when I was considering trying to become one, they not only take paperwork and hand out the missions, but they file paperwork from the Hokage. And they organize the Archives. On top of all that, they are the only ones who know _exactly_ what resides in the Archives."

"How is is that they are the only ones who know what is in there? I thought that the Hokage would know," Kurenai said, looking interested as she put raw beef slices into the cooking broth, playing with them a bit. She looked at Kiba and noticed that he was looking on the bored side, but he had bitten into his bun to keep his mouth shut.

Good boy.

Hinata pulled her pork out of her ramen broth, allowing it to drip before she put it to the side on her plate. "They actually have a six to eight month training period depending on the person. This is, of course, after a two month period of testing to see if they can do the job of a desk Chunin," she said, eating a bit of the cooked pork. Chewing and swallowing her bite, she continued. "During that training period, not only do they have to learn all of the Archive, the files along with the layout, they also have to change how they think. He also said that they had private tutors with T and I for somethings."

Frowning at that, Shino gazed at her through his glasses. "What do you mean by that? I would think that T and I would not wish to deal with the desk Chunins," he said.

Kurenai snorted softly. "If what we know about them is actually true and there is a grain of truth in those rumors we're hearing, Ibiki and his crew would want them to know how to keep all of that info secret." She shook her head. "Did your cousin there say why he couldn't really go into details?" he asked, getting looks from her team. "I'm just guessing here, but Hinata would probably have gotten a whole lot more details if she was really considering becoming a desk jockey. Seeing as she didn't, there has to be a good reason as to why."

Hinata frowned slightly as she finished her pork. "He has a secrecy seal on him that I was told was tied to all of the information that he gained while working as a desk and Archive Chunin. The only reason why he's not still one is because he damaged one leg to the point of being able to do what he needs to do as one. He still works at the Academy as an administrator and the such, but he really doesn't talk about his previous jobs all that much."

"A seal?" Shino asked, shaking his head. "I did not know that they required their people to take a seal to work as a desk Chunin. Even Iruka-san has one?" he asked.

Hinata shook her head. "It's voluntary to get." She stared at Shino and smiled. "It's, as he called it, an extra layer of security. Even though even a Yamanaka would have a near impossible time getting to the information that they know, they want to add another layer to that," she said, clicking her chopsticks. "He took it willingly."

"So they take this seal? Happily? Does it have some kind of an off switch?" Kurenai asked, her eyebrows rising when Hinata nodded her head.

"Oh yes, it does. The first Chunins who used them made sure of it. It was created by an Uzumaki fuinjutsu expert and is controlled only by the one who wears it," she said, shaking her head. "I don't know all of the details and only those who wear it or apply them know the details of how it works either."

Kiba swallowed heavily and stared at the others before frowning to himself in thought. "I think I need to actually talk to one of the desk jockey's. I'm just not really believing this. Not fully."

Kurenai sighed as she finished off her food, Hinata shaking her head, turning back to her plate and eating another bite. Shino hummed and just went back to eating the dumpling that he had stolen. "I think that we should probably do that. But who? Iruka-san is right now swamped between the mission desk, the Archive, and testing week at the academy. Izumo-san and Kotetsu-san are also having to train some new Chunins since three of them were bumped up to Jounin just last week. Raidou-san and Genma-san, who while knowing what they do, aren't the best option since they themselves are tokubetsu Jounin and only work the front areas. Sometimes they help with the filing and stuff, but they don't talk about what they do really."

Shino hummed in thought as he drained his bowl of soup. "I would think then that we would speak with Naruto-san. I know that his next day off is tomorrow actually. He had one yesterday, but from what I understand, he had spent it doing research at his home or at Iruka-san's. It is possible to go to his home from what I know."

"How thought? That gate is hidden," Kiba drawled, waving his chopsticks at his friend before he stuffed his mouth with pork strips and limp bell pepper.

"He has a seal that will act like a doorbell," Shino stated, getting stared at by Kurenai and Kiba. "He told Hinata-san and I when he was setting things up," he told them. "Showed us the seal and how to use it. We are off tomorrow outside of any call's yes?" he asked.

"Yep. If they need us for something, or they just need some information about something, they'll send a messenger bird," Kurenai said, wiping off her lips and putting her napkin down. "Alright you guys, put the money down. I think that we shall get together at the normal training grounds tomorrow and head over before we do any training," she continued.

"I think I can handle that," Kiba said, eating the last of his food on his plate, piling up the used dishes. Shino did the same with his and Hinata's dishes, pushing the pile towards the middle while Kurenai and Hinata piled the communal baskets and plates up. Hinata turned off the burner under the hot pot and stuck the little 'clean me' flag up.

"Shall we meet about eight? I know for a fact that no matter how much he likes to stay in bed, Naruto tends to get out of bed around that time. It will gives us time for a quick breakfast in the morning before going over to meet them," Hinata said.

"That sounds good to me," Kurenai said, reaching into her pocket while Hinata reached into her inner jacket, pulling out their wallets to pay their part of the bill, leaving a tip.

"I need to head home though and finish off some reports. Izumo-san asked me for a few more details on a few of my last solo missions but the basic report was fine from what he told me. Luckily I didn't have to rush since there was so much to do the last few days. But since we are free today, I am going to go finish doing that," Hinata told them.

"Have a good afternoon, Hinata-san," Shino said, pulling out his own money and laying out his part of the bill plus tip. Hinata stood, bowed to them and left with a smile. Kurenai stood too, waving at them as she headed for the door.

"Eight o'clock sharp, you two. We'll see you at the grounds," she said over her shoulder before she left. Kiba sighed and pulled out his own money, dropping it down onto the table and allowed Shino to gather the bills up, placing the money into the bill booklet, the tip money sliding into a small envelope that he tucked just under the booklet.

"You wanna spar?" Kiba asked him, tucking his hands into his pockets as he stood. Shino nodded and moved to stand beside him, thinking that Hinata probably already knew more than what she was telling them. He doubted that she would tell him what she knew considering her tendency to consider certain things secret.

And she never shared her secrets with anyone. Ever.

"Let us go to Training Grounds five. I believe that I have a need to practice that one jutsu," Shino drawled, hiding his smirk behind his high collar when Kiba whined at him. Akamaru stood as they stepped outside, having decided to bask in the warmth of the sun while the team had eaten. He didn't particularly like that restaurant anyways since they had sneered at him.

"Fine. Let's just get going so I can get my ass kicked. Again," Kiba huffed, shaking his head and shoving the thoughts of Naruto and desk jockeys to the side. They'd find out was was going on tomorrow after all.

No need to worry.


	28. Our Truth 29

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 29

Characters: Kakashi, Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, Kurenai, Crow, Shino,

Word count: 1,973

Warnings: Nothing really.

AN: So another chapter. No, Naruto hasn't learned about Zabuza and Haku. He won't until we get into the 40 chapters. So it's going to be a while yet!

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you for reading. :D

* * *

Looking around the living room as he walked in, Kiba raised an eyebrow at what would usually be a neat floor desk that sat near the windows covered in papers. Couches and a loveseat were the usual furniture and he flopped down onto one couch. They had caught Naruto just as he had been about to make a pot of tea and settle into his paperwork, luckily before he had done so. It made the dog nin smirk as he noticed that once again, Naruto was wearing a simple day kimono.

He found that it did something to the usually hyper blond, calming him and making him something more. The current one was a rich gold color that was almost sandish with little kits that were playing along the edge, his hitai-ate sitting on his desk. His usually held back hair was fluffing just a bit more than normal.

Frowning slightly to himself, Kiba thought back to the few times that he had seen Naruto without his goggles during the Academy years and later on without his hitai-ate. His hair tended to fall in softer fluff than just sticking straight up all over the place. Looking at said hair at the moment, Kiba had to admit that it was looking longer, making the locks dip even more to frame the strong face.

"You're thinking rather hard, Kiba-kun," Hinata said softly as she sat down next to him, having finally moved to sit down instead of stare at Naruto as he left them to walk into the kitchen.

"Ah, yeah. I'm just not real sure what to think about Naruto actually," he said as he scratched the side of his head. He and his teammates had all agree that they needed to work on their communications, get things out into the air before they started to fester, and he was trying. Admitting that he was confused about their blond friend, Hinata smiling in understanding.

"I think that might be because he's showing us who he really is," Kurenai hummed, eyeing the ANBU that was lounging back in a chair, feet kicked up with a tea cup steaming next to him. The entire setup was in a corner and settled so that he could watch the entire room, including the windows but still be out of sight from Naruto's eyes. "Crow-san?" she asked.

"His normal bodyguard is out for the day," Crow said as he flipped a page in the report that he was reading. "So I got stuck with this while I'm going over reports to hand to him tomorrow," he said.

"And here I was going to make you a special bento box to take home with you tonight before you leave for your office," Naruto drawled as he came out with the first tray. On it were the creamer and sugar dishes along with cups, saucers and spoons. Kiba hummed as he watched the way that Naruto laid out the cups in such a way that they could grab theirs from anywhere that they sat. "I hope that you guys don't mind sencha. We're out of our other teas at the moment. Outside of the matcha that Iruka keeps for cooking that is, but he'd slice off my hands if I dared to touch it."

"Iruka gave me some really nice matcha when I first got here," Crow drawled, Naruto already feeling the smirk that came from the ANBU.

"Iruka wants to get laid and really likes the way you're built," Naruto snorted, Kiba staring at him with wide eyes while Shino buried himself in his jacket, Hinata blushing bright red. "If he does get you in his bed, just make sure that there's a silencing jutsu up, yeah? I know that he can get noisy and it's not something I want to hear again," he said, walking out of the living room.

Crow's mask turned to follow him, Team Kurenai feeling the leer that came from behind the mask. "I wouldn't mind taking either of them to bed actually," he mused.

"Ugh, that is not what I wanted to think about," Kiba grunted as he slumped down in his seat, listening to Naruto putter around in his kitchen.

Crow turned to stare at him. "What? Think about Naruto getting fucked or Iruka getting fucked?" he asked him. He had to hide the fact that he was amused, especially considering who he was and hiding in plain sight. Kiba narrowed his eyes at the ANBU.

"Iruka-san getting laid actually. I like him and all of that, but I can still remember him kickin' our asses all over the place," the dog nin finally said. Naruto walked past them and opened the front door, allowing Akamaru to walk in with a huff of thanks. He growled at Kiba for leaving him behind. "Sorry, boy, but ya didn't want to get out of bed this morning and I still had to meet these guys for breakfast."

"Hey! The fuck is that?" Kiba asked, watching Naruto give Akamaru a treat, leaning over the edge of the couch and watching him.

"It's a Tsume-san approved treat that I make when I have time," Naruto said as he walked back to pour the hot water into two tea pots. "I started to make them while I was still in the academy. I had to make a few extra dollars and since then I liked to cook, playing with some recipes," he explained as he put the lids on the tea pots and carrying them out. "After Tsume-san found out about some of the treats that I made for a few of the stray dogs around my old apartments, she wanted to check them out. A few tweaks to the recipe and suddenly I'm selling doggy treats through Hana-san's clinic for some extra profit."

Kiba stared at Naruto with wide eyes and an opened mouth, the group watching as a blush spread over his whiskered cheeks, Naruto scowling at the other man. "You're the guy who makes those dog treats that cost an arm and a leg, but sell well?" the dog nin squeaked.

Naruto sighed as he put one pot of tea down onto the table and checking the other. "Yes, I'm the one who makes the treats. They're all natural, have a little extra boost according to the dog size, and they're all things that I've bought, hunted, or grew myself. I had to make money somehow after all," he huffed. "And the treat recipes are all watched over by Tsume-san and Hana-san. They're also safe for human consumption since it's natural, but it's not really geared towards human tastes."

Crow snickered and went back to his paperwork as Naruto started to pour their tea, refreshing his cup slightly. "He's actually working with Choji to create some new food recipes for missions."

"Do you have any time for that though?" Kurenai asked him, watching Naruto pour. "At least with everything that you do along with your training."

Naruto smirked as he sat back down with his own tea cup in his hand, the others taking theirs with curious looks. "Surprisingly, I was able to get some things done in my day before we had an idiot try to come after us," he said, crossing his legs, the kimono shifting around his legs.

Kiba grunted and eyed the way the fabric laid over long legs, taking in the fact that Naruto wore rather soft looking house slippers on his feet instead of barefeet that most of them expected. It was looking as if there were things that had changed in Naruto that they hadn't ever known. It was kind of off-putting, especially knowing that the treats that his partner loved to a point of begging for them daily came from the man before him.

He idly wondered what else Naruto had been hiding from everyone that he was now starting to show them.

"What _has_ been going on lately, Naruto-kun?" Hinata finally asked, breaking into Kiba's thoughts.

Naruto sighed as he stirred his tea. "I'm sure that you guys heard about the attacks against myself, and earlier on, Kotetsu, right? And of course the stolen files from the Archives to," he said, getting nods. "Yeah, well, it wasn't the first time that they've tried for the Archives apparently. Much less the third time as we've discovered. But it seems as if they had never tripped any of the alarms since they always stopped before tripping one and trying another entrance later."

Kurenai stared at him in shock. "Different entry ways? I've never known that there are other ways that you can get in."

Crow shifted in his seat. "That's because they're mostly used by the Hokage, the Hokage's Chunins, and the ANBU," he said, putting his paperwork to the side and dropping his feet to the ground. "They somehow got access to a few of them. We've since shut them down, and then put seals onto them so that only certain people can get in them. Those who aren't keyed into the seal are trapped until we can get them. The rest are so hidden that any new ANBU or pet Chunin have to be trained as to how to get into them. A few older ones were cleared out and new seals placed up out of the way."

"And all of this had to happen in just a couple of weeks, max," Naruto sighed as he slumped in his chair. "On top of all of this, we're short of people to put on rotation so that those who do watch over us have the time to take other missions and get some actual time off," he continued. He rubbed at his face with a grunt. "It really doesn't help that everyone so far who has come through the first round of testing has failed at least the third and final test, which is with Ibiki-san and Yamanaka-san."

"Why is it so hard?" Shino asked him, sipping his tea, finding it perfectly made.

Naruto huffed. "Because of the simple fact that whoever watches over us has to keep what they see and hear as secrets. For life. _And_ they need to be able to do so without a seal on them. Career Chunins are trained to do this, but we do have special seals that we take on willingly. It gives us that added level of security," he admitted. "But those who have tried were all after the knowledge of what we actually do in our day to day lives instead of keeping us alive."

Kurenai nodded thoughtfully as she played with her teacup. "Well, I was looking for an in-village mission to take since I learned a few things," she said slowly, blushing as Naruto smirked at her, her team turning to stare at her. "What? It's not like I can go on missions while I'm pregnant okay? I could probably fill in a few hours during the day and play gopher for the Hokage for a while. I'll need something to do after all."

"Congratulations on the future kid. And see Ibiki-san about filling out the needed paperwork to become a part time fill in babysitter," Naruto said. He smiled at her over his teacup, eyes dancing. "The same goes for the three of you if you guys want to join," he continued as he put his cup to the side.

Kiba, Shino, and Hinata shared a talking look before they nodded, smiling and settling in to enjoy tea with friends. Even when Kiba made a betrayed squawk when Akamaru padded into the living room, sprawling out next to Naruto's chair with a happy puppy groan.

Naruto just laughed at his friend and scratched behind Akamaru's ear for him.


	29. Our Truth 30

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 30

Characters: Gaara,Kankuro, Temari, Izumo, Kotetsu, Naruto, Tsunade,

Word count: 1,973

Warnings: Nothing really.

AN: *cackles*

Enjoy.

* * *

Walking up to the front gates of Konohagakure, his siblings walking behind him, Gaara smile slightly at the sight of the two desk Chunins where were tucked away in the small office to the side. He tilted his head to the side as he looked out of the corner of his eye, easily spotting the one ANBU who had perched on a tree branch. He wasn't surprised by the show of power, instead, he turned his attention back to the two Chunin who were watching him. He pulled out his papers from an inner pocket of his travel cloak.

"Welcome, Kazekage-sama. The Hokage is already waiting for you in her office. She welcomes you to Konohagakure and hopes that you and your siblings find your stay welcoming. She told me that I was to tell you that she does have a place for you and your siblings to stay, even if it might be a bit cramped," Izumo said. Kotetsu smiled as he took the papers from the siblings, writing something down in his log book before stamping the pages.

"We have to also ask that you head directly to the Tower. Rat will be your escort, and I hope that you find no insult by this. We do kind of need you to stay with the ANBU until you've been cleared by the Hokage. There has been a few problems," Kotetsu said, smiling sheepishly as a lanky ANBU with a Rat mask landed behind them.

"It is not a problem, Kotetsu-san. We have heard about some of your troubles from our pen pals but not a lot," Temari admitted, scratching at her cheek, wrinkling her nose. She shifted her battle fan as she told herself to stop the formal talk. "Now, outside of our formal business…"

Izumo just smirked at them as he finished his paperwork. "You guys are just worried about Naru-chan, aren't you?" he asked, getting a snort from Temari, a leer from Kankuro, and a blank look from Gaara. "Here you guys go. You're in luck. He's with the Hokage today so you'll be able to at least check up on him," he said, handing over the three passes. The siblings wrapped the bracelet like passes around their wrists when shown how to by the two Chunins.

"They're some new measure for the moment," Kotetsu said, shrugging at the questioning looks. "Anyone who doesn't live here that is coming in has to have one on them while here. Anyone who is leaving for whatever reason has to wear one while gone depending on the length of time that they're gone. Or if they're coming back they wear one for about a week or so depending on the person." He smiled. "Whoever is working the gates also have to wear different ones."

"They make notes of where you are and what you do. Amazing detailed work," Izumo continued, leaning his chin on one hand. "Rat, can you show them to the Hokage now?" he asked, turning his head slightly to the ANBU.

"Of course," Rat replied, bowing to the two Chunins, turning to the group and nodding. "Please, follow after me," he instructed, walking through the gates with the Sand siblings, taking to the roofs just past the doors. The group ran over the roofs and were soon landing before the Tower, Rat continuing to lead them to the office, knocking on the partially opened door.

"Enter," came Tsunade's voice, Rat pushing the door open with one hand. Stepping past Rat, Gaara smiled softly at the sight of his friend standing next to the blond Hokage, looking good even in the basic Chunin uniform that had the Uzumaki spiral on the shoulder. "Ah, so it seems that the Kazekage and his escorts have finally arrived then?" she asked, smiling in welcome before nodding to Rat.

The ANBU bowed before he left, closing the door after him as Temari and Kankuro stepped forward to stand next to Gaara. Naruto smiled at his friends as he shuffled through some papers on the desk. "I have to welcome and thank you for taking the time to come to us," he said as a formality. "Okay, now that's out of the way, welcome back to the Leaf Village. I hope that you guys don't mind, but due to a variety of reasons, you three are going to end up staying at my place. Gaara, Kankuro-san, due to some massive water damage, you two are staying in one room while Temari takes the other. And we're also short a room since we have a guard or two with us at all time," he said, shrugging a shoulder.

"Who usually is your guard?" Gaara asked as he took a seat when Naruto waved a hand to the small seating area.

"Actually, Gai-san is the one who usually watches over Iruka and I. Due to all of this bullshit, we had to move into my family's home since it's better protected. If we could squish everyone in, we'd have Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san, Raidou-san, and Genma-san, but we can't right now. Iruka-san and I still have our apartments though, especially since the move was a sudden thing."

"You weren't expectin' to open it up so soon?" Kankuro asked. He watched as Naruto moved to a small side room, watching the way his body shifted with each step, working to make fresh tea.

"We weren't expecting to have to for another month or so. I had to do some massive clean up since pipes burst while no one was living there. As it is, you luckily don't really have to share a bathroom with Temari-san," Naruto admitted as he poured water into a teapot, placing the teapot onto a tray along with the cups and carrying it to the table, setting it down. He sat down and waited for the tea to seep. Tsunade was quite happy to let him talk for the moment. "Like I said, there's water damage in five other rooms and four of my bathrooms. They've pretty much been stripped down to the studs to replace any support boards and the such. The builders are working to finish that part before they lay floors and walls, which will take another two days."

He finally poured the tea and handed out the cups, Kankuro nodding when he took his own. "We don't mind sharing a room," Kankuro promised as he sipped his tea, eyeing Naruto as the blond smiled and tasted his own. As Gaara and Tsunade settled in to talk about what they were going to go over during the meetings that were to happen for the next two weeks, he took the time to really study Naruto.

The first real thing he noticed was that Naruto had grown up, quite a bit. They had seen that fact after the whole Gaara being kidnapped and Shukaku being unsuccessfully extracted from him. But he hadn't seemed content with his lot in life at the time. But now, here, he seemed balanced, a contentment that came from having found something that made him happy.

And in a nin's life? That was a hard thing to fine.

He was smiling and glowed with his happiness, even with everything going on. Even though someone had started to target the career Chunin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, it didn't touch him.

Standing with his siblings as the talks finished, Kankuro bowed to the Hokage with a smile. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama, for seeing us during such a turbulent time," he said, smirking. "I hope that the attacks end soon too. I would hate for our allies to be hurt."

Tsunade smirked at him in return before waving at Naruto. "Naruto here can take a couple of hours to get you settled in and to tell you all about what is going on and what we know so far. I have a feeling that having the three of you around will be helpful to us in the long run," she said, wiggling her tea cup at him.

Naruto just sent her a look before he sniffed. "Let me go get Shizune. Tsunade-sama does have paperwork and it's much easier to get through it when you have someone there to actually remove all of those bullshit papers and files that have no place on the Hokage's desk," he drawled.

"I keep asking if he'd just leave a clone behind but he refuses to," Tsunade teased, Naruto rolling blue eyes.

"And I keep telling you it's because we want someone who is a bit more solid than a clone to be with you just in case those idiots decide to try for you instead of us," Naruto snorted as he stood and lead the Sand siblings out. Finding Shizune, he sent her to Tsunade's office before turning to the three with a smile. "Come on. I need to key you guys into the wards so you can get in and out without someone with you each time," he said, leading the three from the Tower and onto the streets.

Kankuro fell behind slightly, content to continue to watch Naruto, smirking at the way the other male moved with an easy grace, something that was delightful to see in regards to the one hyper blond. It seemed as if the last year or so had treated him rather good. He had grown up, disabled the idiots who had been after the tailed beasts for even just a short time, and found a life that made him very happy.

It wasn't very long before they were standing at the gate of Naruto's land, spreading their blood over the seals and being allowed to walk onto the land as he told them the same rules as he had told everyone else. They used a bit more blood to key the wards to them before they stepped into the house and moved to their rooms.

Once they had cleaned up, changed out of their traveling clothes and started the wash, they sat down to the easy lunch that Naruto had made before going over what had happened. Naruto huffed and complained lightly about having to tell the same damn story over and over again. He was finding that it was starting to get annoying.

Kankuro just continued to watch Naruto as much as he could, mentally smirking.


	30. Our Truth 31

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 31

Characters: Crow, Naruto, Kankuro, Temari, Gaara, Tsunade,

Word count: 1,789

Warnings: Nothing really.

AN: I am tired, but I've been dealing with fluctuating weather and figuring things out. I've figured out what I'm doing with **Walk the Edge** , which is my long Bleach/Naruto that I'm working on so that makes me quite happy.

I'll be chatting about that on my livejournal page for my fanfiction so if you want to check it out, just ask and I'll figure out how to send you a link to it.

For now I hope you guys enjoy.

* * *

Looking at the wall clock, Naruto sighed as he placed the rinsed off dishes into the dishwasher, closing it and turning to the Sand siblings. "I need to head on back to the office you guys. I take it that you want to go into more depth about the transfer program with Tsunade right?" he asked, Gaara nodding in agreement. "Well, you can come with me. I don't think that she would mind having you distract her. She can also fill you all in on a few of the more sensitive going ons that I couldn't."

"What kind of sensitive projects?" Kankuro asked, his eyebrows furrowing as they walked to the door to slip on their shoes.

"It's got to do with some clearing of the various files. Tsunade has been going over every single file, not in just the Archives, but with the Hokage's Archives. Those hold all of the same information but they also hold the laws. We're going through them, from now to way before the Yondimines time. And of course, no one knows that we've started this undertaking," Naruto said, warning clear in his voice even as he opened the door and found Crow standing there. "Did Rat take off?" he asked.

"He got word that his wife went into labor and is demanding his hands to crush," Crow stated. He was using a delicate code, telling Naruto that the other ANBU was following someone who was suspicious, or doing something that they shouldn't be doing.

Looking over at the three that stood watching, Naruto decided that they could be trusted with the information. "Who was it?" he asked bluntly. "And what were they doing?"

Crow stood up straight as he sighed. "It was Haruno. And it looked as if she was trying to gain access to your lands by testing your wardings on the wall," he said. Naruto's lips thinned at that information. "She didn't set off any of the defenses, but she did apparently make some notes. Rat is watching her to see just what she was up to," he continued.

"Tell Rat to keep an on her for the moment. I'll be able to talk with the Lady Hokage in a moment," Naruto instructed. "And see if you can't get someone to watch the gate for the next few days at least. I also would like to see if we can't get someone to test the seals for me. I know them but I'm not quite that good, and I do want to find out just what she was trying to do."

"Of course, Uzumaki-san," Crow responded, bowing before he left with a bit of displaced air. Naruto sighed and nodded to his guests before he lead them out of his clan's compound. He took a minute to look over the markings before they continued onto the Hokage's Tower, scowling the entire way.

"Tell me why I ever had a crush on Haruno? And why I call her a friend?" he asked with a growl once they had arrived at the office, Tsunade looking up from her paperwork with raised eyebrows.

"Okay, what happened this time?" she asked, crossing her arms under her chest as she sat back in her chair.

"She tried to do something to my seals earlier," Naruto sneered, Temari flopping down onto the couch while her brothers joined her, watching the two. "I'm going to see if an ANBU who knows the seals can go over them while Rat and Crow keep an eye on her. I have no doubt that one of them will snatch her notes when he can," he continued, moving to make some fresh tea.

Or to steal some of Tsunade's sake from her stash. He wasn't quite sure at the moment.

Tsunade scowled at that, shoving her chair back as she stood and started to pace. "I think that you three know that whatever you hear here is to be kept secret right?" she asked, getting nods. "Good. I'm sure that Naruto did hint at the fact that we're shifting through the files and information that go back to Sarutobi's time, but to be really truthful, we're going back to the first Hokage. We need to know the base laws that had been set down for our village before we can fix or get rid of laws that have been passed now."

"I take it that there are many laws and bills that are not what any Kage would want for their villages?" Gaara asked her.

Tsunade nodded sharply as she narrowed her eyes at her window. "We've discovered at least three that would push us into a civil war, much less push our allies and the treaties with them to the breaking point. We're taking care of those as we speak, working on destroying or overturning them as we find them. I'm going to return Konohagakure back to what it was meant to be," she stated. "We are not a democracy, no matter what the Civilian council may think, much less the rest of the populace. The Kage is chosen by the last Kage and trained by them to be leaders. The ones who rule. End of discussion. I've discovered that the council needs often reminders of this fact. Thus we are slowly stripping them of their power that they tried to take from the position of the Hokage. They're going to learn very soon that I am not one to be fucked around with. I am not a tired man who wanted to retire and enjoy the end of my years."

"What is it you mean by that?" Temari asked her, smirking. She had a feeling as to just what the woman was talking about but wanted to hear the words herself.

"She was raised to watch her grandfather and her great-uncle both run this village. She knows what needs to be done and what she shouldn't be doing. Her grandmother, Mito-sama, who was indeed one of my cousins through my mother, taught her some of the more hidden aspects of the village. This included that she needs to work closely with and listen to the career Chunin who are the Archival workers," Naruto said. It looked as if he had decided to go with the sake, carrying two bottles of it along with snacks and cups on a tray. "She knew all about the way the power structure is supposed to be, but she forgot about it on purpose. At least until I chewed her out before I left and demanded that she get off her lazy ass to make this village awesome again."

Tsunade smirked and nodded. "The people keep forgetting that my so called 'pet Chunins' get the special treatment that they do because they know what I need to know and how the village is to be run. They train long and hard, being chosen by the fact that they will make it through that training without any problems," she said as she moved to grab her chair, flopping down onto it with a huff. "My Chunins were all chosen because they showed that they were willing to stay in their village, and spy on their own people for the sake of all of the village, not just one person."

"The thing is, and this is important, we know everything that there is to know about the village so that we can make sure that any weak links are strengthened. People see us doing it but they ignore it as a figment of their imagination," Naruto told them as he poured the sake, handing out the cups. "We're easily ignored. Unassuming in our duties. And we like it that way. But as you learned, something changed in the last month or so. Unfortunately, it's not a good change seeing as we gained attention that we really don't need due to what we're working on right now," he sighed.

"It's making their job that much harder to do, and makes the likelihood of their work being compromised that much more," Tsunade said. She shifted in her chair, crossing her legs as she tipped her cup back and forth. "So, having Sakura, who doesn't know anything but has probably heard the damn rumors, trying to fuck around with the seals that protect his family's lands means that she just broke a few laws regarding the privacy of clans. So she's now going to be watched." She pressed her lips into a thin line before speaking again. "For now. At least until Rat can get his hands on her notes. I have to wait to do anything with her until then. Either way, she's starting to piss me off. She's been digging around to find out what is going on and she knows she doesn't have the clearance."

"I thought that all of your nins knew what has happened, no exception right now," Kankuro said before he tasted the sake, finding that it was sweet.

Naruto shook his head with a chuckle. "No, most of the nins know to watch the Tower closely for any who don't belong there, but only those who have gotten past the tests to be a guard know the full story. Of course, there's also you three, Crow, Rat, a couple of older ANBU and Ibiki who know the details. Like I said, the rest know that we're being watched and guarded over right now because of some idiot who attacked us and got into the Archives," he explained. He drained half of his sake with a shiver and a wrinkle of his nose. "We don't want all of the information to come out, that wouldn't be a good thing. As it is, we're stared at right now, people wondering if we're somehow run like the ANBU or the Hunter Nin of the village. We're not by the way."

"Oh yes, you're all so much nicer usually," Temari snorted as she poked around on the tray, finding some cookies and eating with a smirk.

"Exactly." Naruto chuckled before he stood and started to dig around on Tsunade's desk. "Now, shall I let you guys move onto the real reason to why you're all here? The transfer I believe. Who were you thinking about having come here?" he asked, finding the files that they needed before settling in to sift through the new pile of paperwork to shift out things that weren't supposed to be there.

Gaara and his siblings were all amazed at just what they had learned but decided to let it rest for the moment until they could really think about it. They had other things to deal with after all.


	31. Our Truth 32

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 32

Characters: Kabuto, Orochimaru

Word count: 1,696

Warnings: Nothing really.

AN: So smint45 on Aff asked: Does you working on **W** **alk the Edge** mean Our Truths is nearly finished?

I can tell you right now...This story is done. Well, to be precise, I have written all of the chapters that makes up this story. All 65 of them. Yep, we're just under halfway through this story you guys! You have a while yet. If I get to the 50's without having another finished story waiting in the wings, I'll be dropping to posting just one chapter a week but that's a while yet.

I am going to state this: **I do not post a story unless it has been fully written.** Our Truths has been fully written and is now being posted.

So no worries. Me working on Walk the Edge is just me preparing the next story.

Remember, you can get a link from me (or check my profile if on AFF) for my livejournal link to keep up with what I'm doing.

And to note: I am doing a Drabble a Day thing, starting Wednesday, where I need pairings from the Naruto, Bleach, Saiyuki, and Weiss Kruez worlds. I have about 22 pairings as of now and I can create more myself (and one of the pairings is doing a kind of "let's be a tiny series here" on me). So if you have a pairing request, go ahead and ask!

So for now, enjoy!

* * *

"Sir?" Kabuto watched as his master flexed his hand with a thoughtful look on his face. It was still odd to see Orochimaru looking as he did. He had transferred himself into a cloned version of his original body after he had found out that his true body had been destroyed in an attack against one of the villages under his control. But Kabuto was starting to get used to it, even though he still didn't know why the man had decided to go back to such a body. Especially after all of the years that he had worked on becoming immortal and powerful.

"Kabuto." His name was a softly spoken word, Orochimaru frowning as he looked up from his hand. "I find that there is still a lot that I have not been able to find out. That there was a lot more done to me without knowing what happened."

"What do you mean?" Kabuto asked as his sat down on the bed. He was wearing a full ROOT uniform, his hair dyed black for his supposed undercover mission, but it was rather comfortable.

Orochimaru sighed as he shook his head, sitting down onto one of the plush floor pillows, letting his legs stretch out before him, crossing. "I think that it has to do with what I have discovered about the Akatsuki and their work with Danzo," he admitted after a moment. He rubbed a thumb over his bottom lip as he frowned. "I really do not know what to think…" he trailed off.

"Perhaps I may be of help. That is why I'm here," Kabuto said, smiling softly. He loved seeing some of the man that he had known as a small child shining through the darkness of his past. He knew that Anko would have stopped and done a double take at seeing him return to himself, having her own memories of how he had been when she had been a wet behind the ears Genin.

"Yes, I suppose that is true. You have become quite the brilliant nin over the years," Orochimaru said, shaking his head with a wry smile dancing on his lips as he laced his fingers. "You do remember the name that I gave you when you asked what I had meant about a Sharingan correct?" he asked.

"Of course I do. Imagine my surprise when you said that one Uchiha Madara, instead of being dead for so long, is actually alive," Kabuto sighed, shaking his head as he leant back on one hand.

"Surprising, yes, I suppose. But not so much as you would think. He was well known to tamper with things in a time when the people didn't really care. And before our current days, the Uchiha's were also well known for their long lives." Orochimaru's lips thinned out before he shook his head. "I found that he has, for lack of a better term, come back. When I refused your services to help him rebuild his body after the failed attack on Konoha, he found someone else who had been willing to help him," he admitted.

Kabuto blinked at him several times, opening and closing his mouth. "Who?" he finally asked, Orochimaru shrugging a shoulder.

"To be honest, I have no idea at the moment," he admitted, looking to the younger male. "My spies and informants haven't discovered who it was just yet." he sighed and rested his chin on his hands, looking out of the window of the room that they had rented for the meeting. "For once in my life, I do not know what to do, Kabuto. It wasn't me, but yet it was me doing all of those things that I have done over the many years," he said quietly. Kabuto just stared at him. "I wanted to do nothing but help everyone, but somewhere along the way, I forgot my path. Forgot what was truly worth my time. I have no doubt that the hypnosis that I was under just helped to twist me further and further off of what I was supposed to do..."

"But still it was you in a lot of ways," Kabuto said for him. Orochimaru nodded his head with a sigh. "What do you know then?" he asked him, his mind already working over the information that he had learned. His master and sensei had always said that it was a good idea to have more than one mind working at a problem. Things tended to get solved faster.

"I do know that he's working on something, and that it is very big," Orochimaru hummed as he stood, starting to pace about the room in his fluid movements. Just like the snakes that his family tended to resemble, he moved in a fashion that was nothing more than...slinky. His hair was brushing well past his ass, the body that he had settled once more into being rather weak for a few months which had allowed the locks to grow without hindrance.

It made Kabuto smile at the fact that it was so long. He could remember that at one time Orochimaru had allowed his hair to grow out before, becoming thoughtful most days. But then he had gone to meet with someone and ended up coming back with much shorter hair. And again back on the dark and dangerous path that he had been on before.

But it was looking to him as if his master was working on turning back to the path that he wanted to truly travel.

"Do you have any idea of what some of the plan could be?" he asked when his master came to a stop, standing before the window, standing up himself. He reached out carefully, unsure of what his reception would be, and only got an amused look from his master as he started to slowly braid the long hair.

Orochimaru made a thoughtful sound. "They're going to try to gather the biju again. This time though it's going to be something big," he said, tucking his hands up into his kimono sleeves and biting at his bottom lip. "I think...Do you remember when I told you the legend of how the biju came to be in this world?" he asked.

"It was the tale of the Sage of the Six Paths, his twin brother and their mother, the Ten Tail's wasn't it?" Kabuto asked, Orochimaru nodding his head with a smile. "She was the first to use chakra and she hated the fact that they could use it too. But they sealed her away when she tried to do the 'peace by force' thing right?"

"Yes, to a point actually. She started out wanting to start the constant wars that were ripping the lands apart. So she ate a forbidden fruit, the fruit of the Shinju. After she became known as the Usagi no Megami, or The Rabbit Goddess, but later was seen as a demon when she developed a God-Complex," Orochimaru told him. He stared out of the window as he felt Kabuto finished braiding his hair and tying it with a bit of leather. "As you said, she didn't like the fact that her sons could use the same power, loving them but at the same time hating them for daring to use her power. So she went after them to kill them. In the end, they stopped her and sealed her away as the core of the moon. One son went to watch over her remains, while the other stayed. And became the Sage."

"I never heard this part," Kabuto said, coming to stand next to the older man and staring at him with a worried frown.

"It has taken me years of hunting down information and various legends to gather the truth, Kabuto." Orochimaru shifted on his feet, looking at his apprentice. "Uzushio had a startling amount of scrolls on the subject actually. I learned that she had taken the fruit that she had eaten and combined it with herself and became the first biju, the Ten-Tails. She was going to take what she considered was _her_ chakra from her sons. By force. After they defeated her, like I said, one went to watch over her while the other stayed behind and became the Sage. The very builder of our world and everything that we know. What no one knew was that she somehow had a technique that would put the world under a spell, much like when a Sharingan user put someone under hypnosis. The Sage though was able to break it."

"And after all of this happened?" Kabuto asked, tilting his head to stare at the other man. He had a feeling that there was more to the story being told.

"It was the Sage who created the Nine Biju's as we know them." Orochimaru stared at his companion. "He had taken her power into himself, and then found that it would be best to split the power up into nine different beings. And the world slowly forgot that they are sentient beings with their own minds," he said, his eyes dark. "I believe that Madara wishes to bring the Nine Biju together into one form and become the Ten-Tails himself if not just the Jinchuuriki of it."

"Well...fuck," was about all that Kabuto could think of to say at that. He bit at his bottom lip as he thought about it. "What are you thinking of doing?" he asked.

"I'm also thinking that there is someone who is pulling Madara's strings, or at least set him on this path. There is more yet to the story that is being weaved around us, but we do not know what it is. I think that we may need to contact Tsunade-chan and Jiraya, and lay out all of the information that we have," Orochimaru sighed. He rubbed at his eyes and groaned at the thought of facing his old teammates. Kabuto smiled softly as he patted his arm.

"And as I said, fuck," he stated, startling a laugh from Orochimaru.


	32. Our Truth 33

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 33

Characters: Naruto, Izumo, Kotetsu, Iruka, Tsunade

Word count: 1,893

Warnings: nothing

AN: *cackles* I love doing this.

Remember guys that I do answer reviews on my livejournal blog (homeoffanfics) and I talk about various things on there to in regards to what I'm doing. It's open to the public.

* * *

Naruto fiddled around with a pen as Iruka and Izumo watched him, frowning. Kotetsu was shifting on his feet, wondering just what was going on and just why they had been asked to Tsunade's office. They all knew that the Hokage had some secrets that they didn't know, and that they were never shared unless someone needed to know that. So at the moment they were doubting that she was going to tell them some big secret.

The group of Chunins weren't going to rule out that possibility, knowing better than to rule something out fully.

Sighing after a few more moments of sitting there, Naruto finally got up and walked into the small kitchenette room to make tea and coffee for all of them. He had a feeling that they would need something to soothe their nerves. Nibbling at his bottom lip in thought, he shifted on his feet, huffing as the water started to boil in the electric kettle. Placing tea and coffee bags into a small bowl to choose from, he poured the water into cups, transferring the cups and bowl onto a tray along with the sugar and creamer.

"I'm actually kind of worried about what it is that Tsunade wants from us," Kotetsu said as he watched Naruto bend over slightly to find a few of the flavored creamer pods that Tsunade kept stocked. Even the sight of Naruto's pert ass in a nice pair of ninja pants barely did anything to soothe the worry he was feeling. He was highly doubting that even the sight of Izumo's ass bared before him and ready for him to fuck would do much for him at the moment.

"I'm sure that you're all thinking it, but it might have to do with a Hokage's Secret," Iruka mused as he perched on the window sill, his legs crossed as he enjoyed the breeze that came from the opening. "Which is kind of a thing to worry about if you really think about it."

"Especially since it's likely that she's being forced by everything to reveal a secret? Yeah, it is. More so when it comes to us. A Hokage's Secret is just that for a very good reason," Izumo sighed, looking over to his friend. He nodded as Naruto put the tray down and offered him a cup, taking a tea bag. "Not even the Daimyo knows any of the secrets that the Kage's keep. We all know that there's sometimes a mission that has such sensitive information that not even we can know it."

"You would be right about that, Izumo-kun," Tsunade drawled as she walked into the office, smirk on her lips. She closed the door behind her and looked at the cups, Naruto already having stuck a coffee bag into one and was holding it out to her with an amused look. Taking it, she huffed before she sat down with a groan. "Look, you guys are all on the right track. I need to tell you some very sensitive information, information that really can't get past the village gates," she said. "Preferably not past those who need to know this." The four Chunin all nodded their heads.

"Tsunade-sama, what exactly has you so worried that you're willing to tell a Secret?" Iruka asked as he stood and closed the window, sealing them in, runes flaring around the room on the walls.

Tsunade sighed as she dipped the tea bag in her cup. "I'm rather sure that you all have figured out that Itachi killed his family for a good reason, and not just to kill them right?" she asked. The four men before her nodded their heads, frowning at their hokage as they shifted in their own seats, making their drinks. "Yeah, I figured as much. Bunch of nosey brainiacs. As you know, Itachi did do it for the good of the village, but he only actually killed those Uchiha's who were proven to be part of the coup. Unfortunately, a rogue Uchiha slipped in during that bullshit and killed the rest. Luckily, depending on your view, Sasuke was saved by the fact that Itachi had knocked him out the way he had."

"I see," Iruka hummed. Stirring in some sugar, he noticed that Naruto was writing down the meetings notes in his personal code, concentrating on getting everything down while he stirred his own coffee. "So what is he doing now? That's what I'm actually really kind of worried about," he said.

Tsunade sighed and shook her head as she removed her bag from her coffee, adding a bit of sugar. "Yeah, you should be, in a way," she admitted. She took a moment to taste it, smiling at the fact that Naruto had used the good stuff. "He's working as a source of information for the village for the moment. But his only loyalty is to his brother and to me as Hokage."

"What is with his thing with getting Sasuke to kill him? Cause that really did fuck around with Sasuke's mental state," Naruto drawled, Tsunade sighing.

"At the time that he did that, he was on that edge," she told them, shrugging one shoulder. "He had a death wish, but he knew that his brother would need to stop his own fall into suicidal tendencies," she said as she rubbed at her face. "Unfortunately for him, whoever killed the rest of the Uchiha's and left Sasuke as the only living Uchiha is probably planning on trying for him. Though I think that Itachi is thinking on trying to fix things with him."

"Or at least try right? That is if Sasuke actually stops for ten seconds to listen and doesn't try to turn things bloody," Izumo drawled as he stared at their Hokage with a smirk.

Tsunade shrugged in return. "Like I said, he's going to try but that's really all he can do at this point. He's hoping that Sasuke has calmed down enough to actually think about things and do them," she continued, crossing her legs, her food twitching back and forth.

"You just never know what Sasuke is going to do next," Naruto hummed, shrugging. "What is Itachi doing right now though?" he asked.

"He's working on collecting more information about the Akatsuki and the other connections that they have," Tsunade said. "We do know that they have connections to Ame, but not one of them actually knows just what those connections are," she continued, reaching up to rub at her lips as she placed her cup to the side. "He's right now working on figuring out that connection, but he does have to step rather delicately since he's working with quite a few missing nins who have a lot of brains going for them."

"Do you think he knows about what's going on here with all of the attacks against the Archives?" Kotetsu asked. His eyebrows furrowed in thought when she nodded in answer. "Do you think that it's the Akatsuki?"

"No, it's not them. They're all busy trying to regather their forces together after all. Three of their members had to go to ground after they tried for a few of the jinjurikis." Tsunade frowned heavily as she thought about what to say next. "But there have been a few other things going on that he hasn't been able to tell us about yet. He has promised to tell me what is going on when he's able to get to one of the safe zones."

"I'm starting to feel as if there's more that you need to tell us, right?" Izumo asked, sitting back and raising an eyebrow. She nodded once more. "Why am I not surprised? Alright, what is it that you have to tell us?"

Tsunade just sighed, picking her cup up and draining the last of the liquid within. "Naruto, do me a favor and get that one gift?" she asked. Naruto cocked an eyebrow before she got up and moved to get said bottle from the desk. The bottle was a dark brown and textured, the liquid within an equally dark color. Grabbing the kettle with still hot water in it, he walked over to her and put the kettle down before opening the bottle, pouring a splash into the cup. It was followed by a new coffee bag, a creamer pod, some sugar and the hot water, allowing Naruto to sit down.

"Are you going to tell us what you need to?" Iruka asked after a few minutes of her stirring the liquid and pulling the bag from the now made coffee, squeezing it between two fingers.

"Yeah, but this is going to be some hard shit to tell you guys okay?" Tsunade sighed, shaking her head before sipping her drink. "Okay, look. It all goes back to the days of when I was still on a team with Jiraiya and Orochimaru. We had just been formed as a Genin team." She rubbed at her eyes, the four men allowing her time to gather her thoughts. "Back in those days, Orochimaru was the brilliant one, Jiraiya was the complete idiot and buffoon, and I was the one who held the middle ground. We were a lot like your old team, Naruto, in set up. Despite what people think now, Orochimaru's parents were still alive during that time. Or at least for the year after he became a Genin.

"Anyways, his mother, she was a special one. She was like everyone in his clan. Slinky, scarily beautiful in an androgynous way, was able to look either male or female at will. Just as seemingly genderless as their snakes seem to be. Her husband was from a far branch from the old North Countries, while she was from the West Countries," she explained, her eyes sad. "She warned him that things were going to be hard for him when they left this Earth. She found me and gave me that same warning. I took it, but in all my wisdom…"

"You didn't believe her thinking that she was wrong?" Naruto guess, Tsunade nodding.

"Yeah. I found my old notes from then and reread my journals in the last month since all of this shit started," she said as she shifted, Naruto writing more notes down. "She also told us that he would eventually 'find his path when the red washed away from his sight'," she said. She watched as her Chunins all went still putting the clues together easily. Her Chunin were all scarily smart, even Naruto, and watching them figure it out was a thing of beauty.

"An Uchiha…? But who could have that much power from the clan? _And_ be able to get close to Orochimaru during all of those years?" Kotetsu asked, coming to sit half off of the couch, visibly stopping himself from pacing around the room.

Tsunade took a deep breath before she reached into her haori jacket, holding it up and showing her Chunin. The four stared at the picture for several long seconds before Naruto screeched and started to fluently curse in different languages. If the situation wasn't so bad, his companions would have ended up highly amused by the fact that Naruto could curse like he was.


	33. Our Truth 34

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 34

Characters: Sasuke

Word count: 1,624

Warnings: Nothing

AN: Okay, guys, just wanted to tell you that I do have drabbles open. Feel free to ask for pairings or characters in the Naruto, Bleach, Weiss Kruez, and Saiyuki worlds. I'm doing them from March 1st until May 3ed. So I could use some pairings.

I have enough pairings to get me until March 26th at the moment.

But here we go, introducing Sasuke.

* * *

Looking out of the side of his eyes as he listened to a couple of nins talk about rumors of people attacking the Archives in Konoha, Sasuke narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. He had been hearing more and more rumors about things going on in his old village, but he hadn't believed them.

For the most part and he was starting to regret that.

He knew that Naruto had gotten back to the village nearly a year ago after his training, he hadn't really heard much more about what had been going on with him. Apparently he had started to keep a rather low profile and moved up in the ranks during the first month back in the village. But that was about all he knew currently.

It was starting to look as if he had to head back to his home village to find out just what was going on back there. Especially since he had heard some other rumors that Orochimaru was cleaning out his ranks, getting rid of certain nins from his village while getting their bounties. It had been a rather interesting bit of information, especially since he had seen Jiraiya running around a few times gathering his own information.

"What has been going on since I last saw you, Naruto?" he asked himself softly before he drained the last of his drink. Putting down enough money to pay for his drink, he stood up with a sigh. Shoving a hand through his hair, he wandered out of the bar and tugged the hood of his jacket up, looking up to the sky.

He had decided to wear some basic off-duty nin clothes while he was wandering around, not wanting to really draw any attention to himself while he was there. As it was, his three companions were doing whatever it was they wanted to as long as they didn't draw any attention to the fact that they were there. He already knew that Karin was working some basic jobs while Suigetsu cashed in a few bounties that they had gotten. Jungo was most likely hanging out in the woods outside of the town to rest and get away from people.

Scowling to himself, he extended his senses and searched for their chakra signatures, finding that they had been suppressed nearly flat before he turned to go find Jungo first. He had a feeling that the other two would join them once they got back to the inn.

Finding the large orange haired man staring at him as he stepped into the meadow just inside the town walls, Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at him. "We need to go back to the inn. There has been a change in plans," he stated.

"Change in plans?" Jungo asked him as he tilted his head thoughtfully before nodding and standing up. "I caught a few fish earlier to cook in our room in the fireplace. They will at least make a nice lunch before we leave."

"That sounds perfect, thank you," Sasuke said, nodding his head sharply before he turned on his heel and headed back into the main village, hearing the other male follow after him. As soon as they walked up to the rooms that they had been sharing at the moment, they found Karin and Suigetsu snarling at each other just outside of the doors. "Must you two fight out in the open?" he drawled as he unlocked one door, undoing the traps just inside. "Get in. We have to talk."

"About what?" Suigetsu grunted as he walked in behind the other man, Karin scowling as she followed after and Jungo stepping in, closing the door and locking it.

"I've heard a few rumors that have come out of Konoha," Sasuke stated as he sat on his bed, legs crossed as he stared at his team. "Have you three heard anything while you were out doing whatever it was you were doing?" he asked.

Karin huffed as she sat down on the other bed, frowning slightly and crossing her legs as she thought. "Not really. I did hear that those desk jockey's of theirs have been dealing with some shit," she admitted, shrugging as Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "There's really not a whole lot that I can tell ya. I didn't listen to the gossip mongers 'cause I was actually working. There's been some attacks, but that's about all I know. Some bullshit about some kind of Chunin bingo book, but I'm not sure what that's all about," she drawled.

"I haven't heard shit actually. At least not about any of those desk Chunins," Suigetsu snorted as he shrugged one shoulder, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Why are you so damn worried about this shit?" he asked as he sat back on his hands, staring hard at Sasuke.

"I've heard a few new things that are connected to an old friend," Sasuke stated, not willing to say anything more about that. He sat and thought over what they needed to do next as Jungo started a fire in the rooms fireplace. He scowled, figuring that he would need to go and talk to someone in the village to learn anything solid. He didn't really want to go back though, not while he was still hunting down information on Itachi and trying hard to find out the truth of things.

But it wasn't looking as if he could get away with not going back to the village of his birth if he wanted to know anything. Growling, he stood up and started to stalk back and forth across the room, his teammates watching him very carefully. They all knew that when the other man was scowling and pacing that he was thinking of something that had to do with his past.

They all knew his story, knew that he had left his village to learn what Orochimaru could teach him, and knew that he still had quite a few ties in the village. Ties that kept him going back often to check on said ties. And it was looking as if they would be heading back to the village with him this time.

"I want you to pack your stuff up. We'll be leaving come morning. Suigetsu, go ahead and get the rest of our stay's money back from the innkeeper," Sasuke instructed. "Karin, I need you to go get rations for the next few weeks, including a new sleeping roll for Jungo. And do _not_ think that I do not know what happened to his last one. I can promise you that it'll be coming out of your share of any future bounties," he told her, getting a scowl.

"Fine," Karin growled at him, stalking out of the room, Suigetsu shrugging as he followed after her to get what he needed to get. Sasuke sighed and shook his head with a snort.

"Jungo, can you pack your things alright?" he asked, turning to the man who had gathered his things already and was already starting to repack them into his bags. "Well then, glad that you can do it," he chuckled, finally able to relax.

The large man who was starting to cook the cleaned fish had been the first of his team to get Sasuke's respect. He was a quiet man, but he was very strong and very smart in battle. He didn't piss him off as much as Karin and Suigetsu did, which was a good thing for him seeing as Karin was a rabid fangirl even if she did have skills that came in handy, and Suigetsu was just an annoying bastard.

Even if he was a skilled fighter with amazing abilities.

Jungo just smiled slightly at him before he turned back to packing his bag methodically, leaving some night clothes, clothes for the next day, his bathing supplies, and the sealing scroll that he used for them to the side. He was nearly done with his sealing and tucking the rest of his things back when Suigetsu walked back in. He handed the money over to Sasuke before he left to his room to pack his own stuff, not saying a word.

Sasuke just stared after him for a moment before he tucked the money away and turned to his own packing, putting aside the same things that Jungo had. As he closed his bag, everything packed, Karin stalked back in. She tossed the bedroll in her hands to Jungo and their share of the scrolls with their food before she stomped out to go to the room that she shared with Suigetsu.

Sasuke simply stared at the door for a few seconds before he turned back to his bag and put it aside. Heading into the room's bathroom with night clothes, bathing supplies and sealing scroll in hand, he closed the door and locked it behind him. He knew though that Jungo would stop anyone from bothering him while he showered; most specifically, he would stop Karin. Stripping out of his clothes, he folded them up and sealed them away before he turned on the water. He groaned when he stepped into the shower, feeling the tension bleed out of him under the water.

He was going home again, going to see Naruto and hear the newest news, but he wasn't sure if he was ready for that to happen since their last meeting hadn't been a good one.

But still, he couldn't get away with not checking in on the man that he still called friend. It was going to be interesting and hard to do. He just hoped that all Naruto did was punch him a few times before they sat down to talk.


	34. Our Truth 35

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 35

Characters: Naruto, Sasuke, Neji

Word count: 1742

Warnings: just a crotch shot

AN: I'm so mean, really. *smiles cutely*

Don't forget that I have drabbles open!

* * *

Slipping out of the hidden tunnel, Sasuke looked around him and snorted, unsurprised when he didn't see anyone near by. His family had long ago built tunnels that ran around various places in the village, tunnels that not even Danzo knew about. And it was looking as if the rest of the village had never found them either.

Still, it worked for him since he was close to Naruto's old apartment and he could hunt for his blond teammate from there a lot easier.

Slipping easily through the shadows, he narrowed his eyes at the fact that Neji was sitting outside of Naruto's apartment, smoking a cigarette and looking utterly bored. "Looks like some things have changed," he mused softly as he slipped off to sneak up the side of the building and through an open window.

He frowned as he looked around the second bedroom turned office, finding that most of the room had a thick layer of dust over every surface, someone having at least swept up the loose stuff. The piles of rags that sat in a basket attested to that. Another basket sat near it, filled with fresh rags and cleaning supplies, telling that it was probably Naruto doing the cleaning.

Leaving the small office, he blinked a few times at the sight of Naruto standing before his sink as he filled a bucket with fresh hot water, wearing a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt. His lean hands were covered in a black glove that went up to his elbows, a hand reaching out to grab a bottle of lightly scented cleaner. He watched as Naruto opened the bottle and poured some of it into the hot water that was filling the bucket, filling the air with a sultry scent.

"Why am I not surprised that you went for sultry when you clean things up?" Sasuke finally drawled once the bottle had been recapped and put to the side. Naruto yelped and jerked around, a kunai just barely missing Sasuke's ear and embedding itself into the sill by his head. "Need any help?" he asked.

Naruto scowled at him before he turned around to shut off the water and pick up the bucket with one hand. Walking over, he stopped in front of his old friend before he brought his leg up into a soft kick, landing a hit to Sasuke's groin and taking him down, making him moan at the pain. "No, you stupid son of a bitch. What are you doing here?" he snarled as he stalked back into the other room once more. Putting the bucket down, he grabbed three new rags, the spray bottle that he had been using, and the pillow that he had been kneeling on to get to the next section of the floor.

Sasuke whimpered as he cupped his crotch, shuddering at the sharp pain that was quickly tapering off to the dull throb, his eyes closed. He cursed that Naruto had gotten to a point where he didn't care about using dirty tactics against a person. "Fuck, Naruto, did you have to do that?" he grunted as he stood up after a moment, adjusting himself carefully to make sure that nothing had been broken. Or popped.

"Yes, because you're a bastard," Naruto stated as he sprayed a section of the floor before him. Turning from the spot, he looked at Sasuke, the man still standing in his doorway and checking his balls and cock with careful touches. "Why are you here?" he asked before he turned back to his cleaning. He soaked a rag in the water before he rung it out, using the rag to work the dirt up.

"I have heard a few things," Sasuke admitted as he moved to the pile of clean rags, finding some more gloves hidden. Pulling on a set of gloves, he grabbed a few of the rags and another spray bottle, he got to work on cleaning the small desk.

"Some things?" Naruto prompted as he watched as his friend picked up a pile of papers, knocking the dust onto a still dusty section of the floor before looking around for where to put them. "Like what?"

"Just things about the desk Chunins of the village," Sasuke replied, blinking when an empty box was shoved towards him.

Naruto pointed to it with a cocked eyebrow. "I'm packing up the last of my shit so I can finally gut the building," he said as he sat back on his heels. Sasuke raised an eyebrow in question, making the younger male sigh. "I've apparently owned the building for a rather long time. It's all paid for and is considered a clan compound. It had been set up by the Third so that I don't have to deal with landlords and the such price gouging me. So he bought the place for me and I became a landlord without realizing it. I actually have someone that is helping me to fix it all up and rent it out to those who need a good place," he said, shrugging.

"So you're not only going to make money from your missions and job, but you're making money from this building too?" Sasuke asked, highly amused by the way things had changed in the last few years.

Naruto tilted his head before he huffed. "Yeah, I suppose that you can say that." He turned back to his cleaning as Sasuke started to clean down the desk with a shake of his head. "It's a part of being a clan head after all. My father did the same thing and so did my mom when she got to sixteen. And since I'm the last of my family here, I'm doing what I can for any family that I find," he continued as he scrubbed at the floor. "And yes, most of the cleaning is because I'm OCD about it."

It was a few minutes of the two of them before Sasuke spoke up again. "Like I said, I heard some rumors and wanted to check to see if they were true or not. Or if you knew anything about them," he said as he slid the newly cleaned drawer back into the desk. Naruto stood up and moved over as he dried his gloved hands on a rag. Pulling out a sealing scroll, he used the time that it took to lift the corner of the desk up as he slid a sealing scroll under the corner, sealing the scroll away.

"I'm one of those desk Chunins," he admitted finally as he shrugged one shoulder, rolling the scroll up and putting it on top of the papers in the box. "What is it that you've been hearing?" he asked.

Sasuke stared at Naruto with surprise in his eyes, never having really thought that his friend would ever want to just stop at Chunin instead of heading for the top of the top in the nin world. "Well, that is a surprise," he mused. Naruto just gave him a look before he huffed again and went to finish wiping up the wet down dust. "But I have heard about someone attacking the desk Chunin for whatever reason they have," he said. "A few that said that they're going after the Archives for some reason."

Naruto just looked at him, rather amused, and pulled off his gloves finally, shaking his head. "Let me make some tea for us and I'll tell you all that you need to know," he said as he grabbed the bucket to dump out, walking out of the bedroom. Sasuke followed after him before scowling at the fact that there was a kunai suddenly pressing against his back in a spot that would paralyze him. "Neji, would ya leave him alone? He's just here to find out what's been going on," Naruto sighed, looking around Sasuke's body.

"You sure?" Neji asked. His voice was a purring danger.

"Very," Naruto huffed, smiling at his friend. "Kurama would have told me the moment he came in if he wanted to kill me or not. He just wants some information."

Neji stared at Naruto for a moment before he nodded and left with a glare to Sasuke. He would have taken the man down but then Naruto would have pouted at him into doing what he wanted anyways. Leaving the apartment once more, he closed the door and settled down into his seat outside of the door.

Naruto waved one hand at the dining room table, dumping the water and finding the kettle that he had brought with him as he started to talk. "What is is that you actually know about the Uchiha Massacre, Orochimaru, your great-something grandfather, and Danzo?" he asked, smiling at his friend as he filled the kettle.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that question as he sat down. "I have a feeling that they're all going to be connected in some way aren't they?" he asked.

"Yep. Okay, I need your promise here, Sasuke, a blood promise, that you will not reveal any of this information and to anyone who doesn't know this already," Naruto said as he took out a scroll. Sasuke looked at him for a few minutes before he nodded and took the scroll. He had only seen it once before, back when he had found out about the blood and water clones that Zabuza had used for him and his young apprentice.

That particular bit of information had been a rather random find that he had come across in the Uchiha archives about some nins who could use a mix of clones like Zabuza could.

Kakashi had made him sign the blood promise contract because by that time Tsunade was Hokage and had figured that the two nins could be used as allies at a later date.

Pulling out a kunai, he slashed his hand and wrapped it around the scroll, feeling the blood and sealing the promise with a jolt of chakra from Naruto.

"Wonderful," Naruto chirped as he tucked the scroll away when Sasuke pulled his hand away. "Now, this all started nearly a year ago. I had decided to settle into a desk Chunin life because, despite what everyone thinks, we do so much more than what everyone thinks," he started as he put the kettle onto the stove and hunted down two cups.


	35. Our Truth 36

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 36

Characters: Kakashi, Haku, Zabuza, Tsunade, Iruka,

Word count: 1476

Warnings: nothing really

AN: I have to say that mentally I am not in a happy place. It's not your fault, it's just my anxiety making me very anti-people. I'll actually be putting up a journal over on my livejournal (homeoffanfic) talking about things.

If you have a few, swing by, read the journal. As always, it is public.

With that in mind, I am sorry about missing Monday's post. It was a very bad day and I actually slept most of the day away so I'm hoping you will still enjoy this chapter.

Because we're finally bringing in Zabuza and Haku! Hurrah!

So enjoy.

* * *

Perched up in a tree, Kakashi stared out over the lake as he waited for the two that he was waiting for. He hadn't told Tsunade about the meeting that he had until an hour before he had to leave for it, wanting to keep it under wraps until they were there and had agreed to his request. He had a feeling that he would have to deal with a very pissed off Iruka and a hurt Naruto, but he had to do it.

They would need all of the powerful allies that they could get, and if it meant creating a new life for two who were supposedly dead, then so be it. The letter from the new Mizukage that had pardoned Zabuza for his part of the rebellion would go a very long way in starting that.

Standing up, he dropped down from the tree branch as Zabuza and Haku walk out of the woods, raising an eyebrow at them in greeting. "You made good time," he said, waving at them, Zabuza grunting at him.

"What he means to say, we have absolutely no doubt that you have not told Naruto about us or that we are coming to the village. So we thought we should do this now instead of later," Haku said, shaking his head with a smile. "Tell us what has been going on?" he asked as he sat down on a log. Zabuza sat down next to him as Kakashi perched on another log, staring at them with one gray eye.

"I don't know that much outside of what we have been able to put together from what has come from them. But it appears as if the desk Chunins that we all thought were weak aren't as such. They are actually quite talented and powerful," Kakashi admitted as he scratched his cheek with a shrug.

"It is surprising to learn that the supposedly weak link is actually much stronger than what you think," Haku drawled as he stroked the white rabbit that had settled into his lap. "I use that in my favor when I go on missions and need information myself."

"I can say that I've seen him castrate a man for daring to try to rape a woman, prostitute or not," Zabuza snorted, leering at his lover. "And he's the one who runs our household."

"Really? At this time? I'm not the least bit surprised," Kakashi snorted, shaking his head. "Anyways, it all started when Anko showed us the bingo book that held just the Chunins. Chunins who work the mission desks for their careers, and most often than not, work the village archives," he said. Haku cocked an eyebrow. "You can put in a request for one if you want to, but the desk Chunins get the first copies and if they run out, you have to wait a week for the restock."

"That's not too surprising," Zabuza grunted as he moved his sword off of his back and leaning it against the log that they were sitting on. "What happened next?"

"We started to think after Anko had pulled out that bingo book. We figured out that they like to tease us and drive us to drink, but only after a really bad mission. It always works too since we end up finding friends there who can pull us out of our low points," Kakashi drawled. "Then one of them was attacked while they were working the night rounds. They found that the rooms that had been set up to help protect the Archives had been entered. Someone was good enough to get in and out without leaving any evidence."

"Did something happen to Naruto-kun?" Haku asked, raising an eyebrow as he crossed his legs. The rabbit shifted and settled once more.

Kakashi sighed and nodded his head. "Someone got in while Naruto had been putting some files away, drugging him heavily before landing a couple of hits on him. The ass was caught by Izumo, Naruto, and Iruka before he was handed over to Ibiki-san, but still. That cost the Chunins quite a bit of free time and wore them out replacing all of the reports lost. Naruto and Iruka alone slept for a solid twelve hours after they were free and before they took over for Izumo and Kotetsu. They're all very pissed off. And still under guard."

"Would we be able to help guard them?" Haku asked him, looking hopeful with that possibility.

"Most likely you will be. After Naruto finishes giving me hurt looks and Iruka finishes turning me black and blue," Kakashi said, sighing as he stood up with a soft groan. "It's not going to be a pretty sight."

"But it does need to happen, especially if you're wanting to find out who it was who attacked them and who are trying to into those Archives of yours," Haku stated, standing with the rabbit in his arms as he frowned slightly. "Come on, let's get this over with. I wish to speak with Naruto here soon. It has been much too long since I have seen him."

"Of course," Kakashi drawled, watching as Zabuza easily swung his sword back onto his back again before he turned and walked into the woods. "We'll have about an hours walk to the door that we will use to enter the village. It's only used for when we need to bring people in for meetings and they can't be seen coming in," he explained, getting a grunt from Zabuza while Haku made thoughtful sound.

They continued to walk along the trail, Kakashi leading the way as they talked about what the two had been up to, the man finding that they had been watching the new Mizukage. They rather liked her, more so since Zabuza had been somewhat friends with her at one time, when they had been young and before things had gone bad for the village.

They were ten minutes away from the door when Kakashi came to a stop, his head tilted to the side as his eyes narrowed, looking to the side. "Stay put please?" he requested before he disappeared into the brush. The two lovers stared at each other before watching where the man had disappeared into, listening to the soft words that came through the underbrush. It was another two minutes before Kakashi came out with a bundle of brown and white fluff in his arms. "Well, well, would you look at what I found."

"What is it? A scrub brush that needs a bath?" Zabuza asked, eyeing the ball of fluff as it shifted and looked up at him with black eyes.

"No, she's a type of fox that comes from the upper Northern parts of the continents," Kakashi said, scratching behind her ears. "I found this little girl by her mother. It looks as if they got caught and she got them free, but unfortunately was dealt some nasty wounds. Only a day or so by the looks of it, but she is nearly weaned by the looks of it."

"Aw, he's so cute," Haku cooed softly as he reached out to gently scratch under the foxes chin, getting a soft grunt from her. "And probably hungry."

"I was able to catch a small bird for her. That's what took me so long actually," Kakashi admitted as he rubbed the fox's muzzle, getting the last of the blood off. "It should hold her over until I get her to Naruto. He's been wanting to find a good nin animal to train as his partner, and foxes have always loved him. They loved his father too."

"Alright, now that you have your suck up gift, let's get to the meeting," Zabuza grunted, shaking his head. Kakashi smiled as he shifted the fox so that it was tucked into his vest to stay warm before they continued to the door. It didn't take very long to get to it and just as short of a time to arrive at the Hokage's office. Walking in behind Kakashi, the two lovers watched where Kakashi handed over the fox to Naruto before he was hit several times by Iruka for daring to make Naruto look hurt.

Zabuza just stood out of the way and shook his head while Iruka turned his clipboard on the man, Naruto already cuddling the kit between shooting Kakashi betrayed looks. Haku just sighed and sat down next to Naruto with a small smile, filling him on what had happened and why they had done it.

Tsunade just laughed at Kakashi as he tried hard to dodge around Iruka, all the while talking about why he hadn't told anyone about the fact that Zabuza and Haku were alive.


	36. Our Truth 37

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 37

Characters: Tsunade, Naruto, Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku, Iruka

Word count: 1,670

Warnings:

AN: Whoops, almost forgot to post this! Luckily I watched one of my youtube subs and was reminded that it's Friday!

Enjoy though!

* * *

Tsunade sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose as she stared at the group in her office.

Naruto was still cuddling the fox kit that had come from Kakashi, feeding it a bit of meat from a place that an ANBU had gotten for her. Kakashi was on the opposite side of the room, nursing his head and watching Iruka warily. Iruka on the other hand was alternating between glaring at Kakashi while he rearranged his papers on a new clipboard and smiling softly at Naruto as he soothed the kit in his arms.

Zabuza and Haku were just watching everything, both of them looking highly amused by the actions of the others.

"Okay, to get over the business, as long as you two are good boys, you'll be allowed to stay here. You'll both be on probation granted, but I'm sure that it can last as long as this bullshit with the idiots trying for the Archives will last. Or when a year has passed. Whatever happens first," she finally said, stamping the paperwork that she had filled out when Kakashi told her about the meeting. "Naruto, do you think that you can house them for the moment? Or at least in that side house of yours?" she asked.

Naruto frowned as he allowed the kit to playfully chew on his fingers, thinking about how that would work. "The guest house needs some heavy duty cleaning before hand. I know that all of the pipes and what not are good still, but still, it needs to be cleaned top to bottom. And I'll need to probably call in Shino at the least to get any bugs out of the house for good."

"Do that, Naruto. They'll be staying with ya for part time at the very least. Once they've been cleared, the desk chunins will be getting their main bodyguards since we now have enough for that to work," Tsunade said as she shifted through her paperwork.

Iruka made a curious noise as he looked at Tsunade. "If you don't mind me asking, Tsunade-sama, but who would be watching who?" he asked.

"Let me see. Anko and Neji will work together to watch over Raidou and Genma with one ANBU or another replacing them when needed. Haku and Zabuza will be watching Kotetsu and Izumo during the day while Rat takes over the nights. He's currently on medical leave since he got hurt on his last mission. Gai-san will still be watching over you with occasionally Crow watching. Kankuro will be following around Naruto since he's staying behind as the first switch," Tsunade said, reading off a list.

"That'll work for me," Naruto hummed as he shifted the now sleeping kit in his arms into a more comfortable position. "For now, did you explain to Haku-san and Zabuza-san what was going on, Kakashi?" he asked, looking over to the pouting jounin.

"As much as I know, I told them," Kakashi replied, shrugging one shoulder. "I don't know much outside of whatever everyone else tells us."

"Well, at least some information has stayed secret. Like it's supposed to be," Iruka sighed as he shook his head, moving to sit down finally. "Now, mind you, all of this information is highly classified information, so you three need to keep quiet about it unless it's with someone who knows. You'll end up meeting the other desk chunin who know about all of this over the next couple of days. Including the two that you will be working to guard."

"That will be fine, Umino-san. We can understand that the very nature of this information is extremely sensitive," Haku said. Zabuza just stared at Iruka for a few moments before he nodded his head in agreement.

"Good. Now, as you probably know, someone is trying to get into the Archives. What you probably don't know is that the Archives aren't just past mission reports, some of which no one can know about outside of us. But are also village wide jutsus that have been learned or created, all of the clan information, and a variety of other bits. They include laws that had been overturned, passed through or thought about, but all of them are actual laws. If it's not in the Archives, they don't exist. Period." He stared at them with dark eyes. "Anyways, a lot of it would be very bad to have get loose as you can imagine."

"So they want ta get ta all of this information that ya have but they're underestimating those who are charged with protecting it?" Zabuza asked. Iruka and Naruto nodded. "Idiots. This world is full of 'em," he moaned.

Naruto smirked at him. "I agree. You see, being a career chunin and one who protects the Archives doesn't mean anything when it comes down to our abilities, Zabuza-san. We're all strong enough in most cases to become Jounins and ANBU if we wanted to. But we don't. We play a very important part in the protection of this village. We just happen to be in plain sight."

"I thought that your dream was to become Hokage," Haku said as he stared at his friend. Naruto smiled softly at him.

"I grew up, Haku. There wasn't much of a choice in that regards. And when I did grow up, I stopped to really think about it. In the end I decided to work the chunin desk jobs when I became a chunin. I found out that I was pretty good at it all in the first week and Iruka tapped me to train as an Archival Guardian," he said, shrugging one shoulder. "I love my life now. I don't think I would have been entirely to happy with continuing on the path that I had been on. It took me a long time to come to terms with who and what I am."

Haku continued to stare before he smiled. "You're happier now then you were then. I'm glad. But I understand that you are probably quite upset that you weren't told that we had live through our confrontation on the bridge."

"I knew that something was up when I found out that part of the mission report was missing," Naruto drawled, looking over at the sheepish looking Kakashi. "The only time that there are parts missing is when the Hokage has given permission for that part to be missing. And that is one of the few times that the Hokage has any kind of control over what kind of reports are handed over and filed. We do need _all_ of the information so we aren't surprised by things after all," he purred, Kakashi slinking down in the chair.

"Now that the truth has come out about this subject, Kakashi-san now has to rewrite his report to fill in any and all details that he had left out of the original. And I am talking about from start to finish kind of rewrite," Iruka said, smiling sweetly.

Kakashi whined softly and shuddered as his hand twitched unhappily at the thought of having to rewrite that particular report. "I hate having to rewrite reports," he sighed, hanging his head. He knew that he would have to rewrite the report, and perfectly on top of that, otherwise he'd have to do it a third time. And he would have nothing but D-ranked missions. More than likely going after Tora again.

"Then you should have just sucked it up and told me about them living," Naruto stated as he looked down at the fox in his arms. "I take it that this little one is a suck up present?" he asked.

"I found her next to her mother. I would have given her to you even if I hadn't had to try to make up bullshitting you for this long," Kakashi told him. He watched as Naruto stood up with a slight smile on his lips.

"I will talk with you later about this. But don't expect to be left off so easily," Naruto warned him before he walked out with the kit in his arms.

"I think that he's going to take the kit to see Hana-san about her health, and to get the full work done," Iruka mused before he smiled at the two suppose to be dead nin. "Come on. We'll get the last of the paperwork filed and then I'll take you over to the house. Naruto was able to show me how to key someone into the wards so I can do that while we're working on it," he promised.

Standing up, Haku and Zabuza were quick to follow Iruka out of the office, Kakashi groaning as he let his head thump against the back of his chair.

"Just fuck me," he moaned, shaking his head as Tsunade snickered at his attitude.

"And just think, Kakashi-kun, he'll just beat your ass for this stunt instead of pranking it for three weeks like the last time you pissed him off," Tsunade drawled, crossing her legs. "And I think that once he's done, I'll let Haku use you as his test subject to become a medical nin."

"You are one sadistic woman, I swear," Kakashi sighed, pouting. "Whoever thinks that Orochimaru is the sadistic one out of the three of you have apparently never met you when you're feeling mean," he complained. Standing up, he smoothed his flack jacket and adjusted his mask. "I'm going to head off to change and shower. I smell like fox now."

"I'm sure that you'll have a letter from Naruto soon enough about when to go have that 'talk' with him," Tsunade said, waving him. off. "Get lost. And take the damn door!" She growled as she swung around to look at the window, finding that she was to late, a sandal clad foot disappearing out of her window behind the rest of Kakashi. "Damn it."


	37. Our Truth 38

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 38

Characters: Kakashi, Haku, Naruto, Zabuza, Hana

Word count: 2048

Warnings: nothing much, just Kakashi getting hit

AN: Ahh, another chapter. And actually on time! Yay! Enjoy.

* * *

He landed on his feet in the training field that Naruto had chosen to take out his anger about the truth of Haku and Zabuza in before going to see Hana, and stood up. Kakashi had a second thought that he had made a big mistake in not waiting for Naruto to contact him later when Naruto surged to his feet, kit still in his arms and a snarl on his face.

"You stupid son of a bitch," Naruto growled as he handed his new kit off to Haku, turning to swing at Kakashi and landing the hit on the other man's gut. He snarled as Kakashi curled into the punch with a grunt. "I should rip your damn balls off for lying to me for so fucking long!" he snarled as Kakashi staggered back a few paces, his arm wrapped around his now throbbing stomach.

"It wasn't as if I could just tell you about this if you didn't already know," Kakashi grunted, blue eyes flaring with anger. "I didn't know that you had gotten so close to them, otherwise I would have told you."

"I didn't get that close to Zabuza, I only got close to Haku-kun. There _was_ a lot that I left out of my main report and for very good reason. Sarutobi-san knew what those details were and agreed with me keeping them out of the main report. Iruka also knew, and those details were written down and _sealed_ in a private Archive room for a very good reason," Naruto growled. Kakashi slowly stood up straight with a wince. "Haku told me all about Gato back then, about how he was a despicable bastard with a veneer of a polite businessman. He gave me a scroll that I was to give to someone that I trusted who had power. I held onto it until we got back to the village and handed it over to the old man after our meeting."

Kakashi just sighed, knowing that at the time there had been few that Naruto had trusted. And even less when it came to things that he thought were important. "I can understand that and if I had known you were that close, I would have told you about them when you had come back from training with Jiraiya-san," he said. Naruto just sniffed in distaste before he turned on the balls of his feet and walked back to Haku.

"I will speak with you when I don't want to toss you through a very thick wall. Why the fuck you decided to follow after me today I will never know," he stated, picking up the kit and cuddling her close. He stalked out of the training field with a shake of his head, Haku standing up and following after him quickly. "Why did you decide to follow after me when I know that Iruka is probably setting you guys up with your place and doing the paperwork right now?"

"Because I had a good feeling that you have questions. I suppose that you are now heading to this Hana-san's to have her check upon your new kit?" Haku asked as he reached over to scratch the kit behind her ears. She grunted happily, her tail twitching as Naruto smiled down at her.

"As cliche as it may seem with my furry guest, I do like foxes. There are many foxes around here, and they are, by a very strict law, protected since they were nearly all killed after the Kyuubi attack. But if one loses it's mother and father, they are taken in by some specially trained caretakers. And the Fox contract is still sealed within the Hyuuga compound, so there is no actual way of getting at it any time soon," he admitted.

"But who would be able to sign it then?" Haku asked as they left the training field where Naruto had gone to destroy some of the training posts to get rid of his anger.

"If a current holder of the contract wishes to have their apprentice sign it, they have to contact the head of the Hyuuga household, who is Hiashi-san, and set up an appointment since he's busy so often. They are the caretakers only so they can't deny the holder access, otherwise the contract will be removed from their hold. This also means they can't stop anyone from signing it, only the foxes themselves can do that," Naruto said. He shrugged. "By the time that I had learned about the contract, I had already signed the Toad contract with Jiraiya."

"So you do have a contract then. I have a contract with the Barn Owls, one that comes from my family. My mother had hidden it away when the Bloodline Purges had started. After Zabuza-sama found it, I kept it after I could have signed it," Haku hummed, taking in the village as they walked through the streets. He tilted his head thoughtfully. "It's quiet here. But there's something that is hidden, isn't there?"

Naruto smiled very slightly at him before he nodded. "Yeah, there is. You can't really feel it if you're not in the know or have lived here for your entire life. It's just something that you're used to so you don't think about it until you actually do think about it," he sighed, shaking his head. "For all that the civilian's think that it is _their_ village, their actions are ruled by a military mindset. Konohagakure _is_ a military village after all. As nin's, we are trained to fight and to kill. To do all of the dirty work that they would rather believe can't happen." He pursed his lips before smirking. "Don't happen in their eyes. We're not tools though. We're the warriors for our people and our Daimyo as long as he is someone who should hold our loyalty."

"Not that the Daimyos have much control over the various villages anyways," Haku huffed, Naruto chuckling as he scratched the kits ears.

"No, not much anymore at least," Naruto drawled as he shrugged one shoulder. "There are things that are going on that I can't tell you just yet because of the fact that they need to happen without any others finding out about it."

Haku nodded his head as they walked up to a large compound, two wild looking guards standing on either side of the opened gate, looking bored. "I see. This is…?" he asked, trailing off as they walked through the gates, getting eyed by the guards.

"The main compound of the Inuzuka Clan, yes. They're a very dog like clan and have dog nin companions," Naruto said, nodding his head to where there were two Inuzuka's were working with their nin dogs. "Hana is next in line for the clan head position, being the eldest. Her brother, Kiba, is actually about four months older than I am," he continued, walking up to a somewhat small building that sat near the edge of the compound. "She is also the best nin animal vet that we have in the village."

"So she will be able to check over this little one for you, huh?" Haku asked, smiling at the kit as it started to scamper back and forth over Naruto's arms and over his shoulders.

Naruto chuckled as he pulled open the door to the clinic. "Yes, she can," he drawled, smiling at the young Inuzuka girl who was sitting at the desk. "Hello, is Hana-san free? I have a young kit who has promise of being a good nin animal," he said in greeting as he put the kit down onto the table. She flopped over and wiggled happily, looking absolutely adorable.

Haku couldn't stop himself from cooing at her, smiling at the kit along with the young girl. "Just give me a moment, Uzumaki-san, and I will see if she can see you right now."

"Thank you." Naruto nodded and plucked his new kit up as the young woman stood, walking into the back. "What do you know about what is going on actually?" he asked as he turned to Haku.

"Not quite as much as I feel I should know, to be truthful," Haku admitted as he shrugged slightly, scratching the kit behind her ears. "We can speak about everything when we get to your place, yes?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'll see what the two of you know before I start to fill in everything. I have to warn you that I am having to do some rearranging the rooms while we figure out the house. Some of my rooms in the main house are being fixed," Naruto said, Haku smiling and shrugging.

"I do not mind that. I'm sure that we'll be able to deal with it," Haku chuckled.

Naruto groaned softly. "I do actually have about ten bedrooms and seven bathrooms at my place," he admitted as he shrugged at the odd look. "I have my room and bathroom, the same as Iruka does. Then there's the room that is being used by our guards, mostly Gai though. So that's three rooms that are being used. That leaves seven more rooms but it also doesn't since I have only two rooms, at most, that are opened to being used. The other five rooms, plus four of the bathrooms, were all so heavily water damaged that I had to have them gutted. The house itself is fine, it's just those rooms that I had to rip out and rebuild. So it's a tight squeeze while the guest house is inspected."

"So why are you all living there then?" Hana asked as she walked out from the back, one thin eyebrow raised.

"Kotetsu got attacked and after that shit happened," Naruto stated, smiling at her. "I was going to move into the house anyways when I finished my training since I had started to live with Iruka anyways. Everything was going to be fixed by then. Luckily we had been able to get the rooms and bathrooms that we're in now fixed up and furnished at the least. Otherwise we'd all be fucked. And not in a good way."

"Yes, indeed. Alright, you three, come on back and let me see this kit. I take it she's been weaned?" she asked, turning around and leading them into the back. Haku was chuckling softly, shaking his head in amusement.

Naruto looked down at his kit before he shook his head. "Not fully. Mostly mashed up food I would think. Her teeth are still a bit soft, but not on milk every day," he said as they stepped into an examination room. Putting his new kit onto the table, he smiled as Hana cooed and coaxed the young fox into relaxing into her examination.

An hour later found the kit having gotten a few starting booster shots, along with a basic immunization that she kept on hand for young foxes brought in after they had lost their parents. She was still giving them what Hana called pouty looks, but had still happily accepted the ground vension that she had given him, eating it after it had been mixed with a bit of goat's milk.

"She's healthy as can be and will make a fine nin fox," Hana finally said, starting a chart for the now named Yasu, having decided that she was a rather peaceful little girl. She had a feeling that it would end up changing at a later date as she grew up.

"Wonderful. What do you suggest in regards to training with her when it comes time?" Naruto asked, playing with one of her ears, getting a happy yip before Yasu went back to her meal.

"I'll pull out those exercies for you when she starts to get bigger," Hana promised him. She shooed him out of her examination room, the two stopping to pay for her time before they left with the now yawning kit. "It's going to get mighty interesting here very soon," she chuckled as she put the file away with a smile. "That's a good thing though. This village can use the shake up in perception."


	38. Our Truth 39

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 39

Characters: Naruto, Tsunade, Iruka, Genma, Izumo, Raidou, Kotetsu

Word count: 1,813

Warnings: Poor Naru keeps catching those damn darts,

AN: Okay guys, it's that time of the year again. It's Camp National Novel Writing Month April Edition! That's right. Tomorrow, on Saturday, I start the insanity that is Camp NaNo once more.

This means that I go to my usual Nano posting schedule. One chapter of **this** story on Monday (that means Chapters 40 to 43 during the month of April) and Drabbles being posted on Friday. The drabbles will still go from Thursday to Wednesday, but will be posted on Friday.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'm going to finish preparing the insanity.

* * *

"Wanna tell us why we're all here in your house, Tsunade?" Naruto asked as he flopped down onto the couch with a groan. He was exhausted, having been caught by _another_ drugged dart, but he looked awake. Iruka smiled softly and stroked his foot that had come to rest in his lap, having been the one assigned to watch over the younger man. They hadn't been able to catch the idiot who had tried to get in, but they had to refile everything.

They had discovered after the fact that the files that had been taken had been reports done by Kabuto that were being shifted to a new section of the Archives for the moment. That told them that the person had been after those files in particular since it hadn't been all of them. That along with the fact that the drug that had been used had worked on Naruto, putting him to sleep for a good five minutes while the man had escaped. All of that told them a lot about who and why the person was there.

"Because there is no one stupid enough in this world to try to fuck around with my family home," Tsunade snorted as she flopped down onto her couch. Izumo rolled his eyes from where he had perched in Genma's lap with a huff. The senbon wielder snorted and slumped in his chair, one hand curled over Izumo's lean stomach. "As it is, your bodyguards are being pissy little bastards, walking around the grounds."

"I kind of doubt that Zabuza is a pissy bastard, but he is a grouchy one about the fact that he can't follow us into this meeting," Naruto snorted as he moved to lay against Iruka. He was still drugged and didn't mind it when Iruka chuckled and smoothed a hand through his hair.

"Knowing our luck, Haku is more likely sitting right outside of the window and glaring at everything," he teased, getting a soft huff.

Genma smirked over at Naruto around his senbon. Izumo sighed and stole his senon with a look. "Come on, Naru-chan, he just wants to protect your purity. After all, you do have a lot of people after your sweet ass."

"Don't think that I won't make it so that you can't get it up while providing Raidou with toys and a horny Iruka to keep him busy while you're healing," Naruto threatened, getting laughter from Raidou and Iruka. "As it is, Haku is watching Yasu for me, and since she hates being away from me for very long, he's probably ready to string someone up. And on top of that, today was stressful for both of us since he was being put through some basic training with Hana-san to help take care of her," he continued.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine," Raidou promised, getting a soft smile from the younger man. "So, do we know for sure that it was Kabuto that took the files?" he asked as he turned the conversation back to why they were there. He was sitting down and had Kotetsu using him as a seat. The poor chunin had been about ready to strangle Anko seeing as he had ended up gotten her for the last two days while Neji had been off on a short mission.

"We do. I went back into the Archives to check them out while Naruto was napping off the drugs and I found the dart that he had used. Only Kabuto could use such small darts with such delicacy and accuracy," Iruka said, working his fingers through soft blond hair. "Yasu was kind enough to find it for me actually. She's turning out to be a very good tracker, so I tested her on the scent of Kabuto from the last time someone had to take him down."

"I was there watching him while he did it. It was definitely Kabuto," Tsunade said, shaking her head. "We need to figure out what we're going to do in the long run."

"I think that he wants to speak with us though. There is a reason why he just knocked me out. He needed the time to find the right files and set things up so that he could escape easily enough while leaving behind all of the information that we could use," Naruto mused, blinking sleepily from his place.

Genma shifted so that he could look around his lap candy and stare at Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" he asked as he caught on to what the other man was telling them.

After all, he _had_ seen the room after they had found Naruto and 'drove off' the 'intruder' of the Archives. The papers had been carefully set up to scattered around Naruto when the man had left the Archival side room, and the intruder himself had been near a window that was propped open. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together.

Naruto smiled over at him, knowing what the other man was doing. "Kabuto knew that we would find him and knew that he would need some time to do it. I saw the way he fingered different darts before he struck out with one. While it was done in a split second, having Kurama help me go through the memories helped. After that, he would have had time to figure out what he needed to do and just wait for you guys to get there. From there, it was just a matter of getting out and leaving you clues to know that he was there. And that he wants to talk."

"Exactly." Tsunade sat up and leant forward, resting her arms on her knees as she frowned at the group, fingers lacing together. "We need to go over what it is we want to do though." She looked over her chunins and felt a burst of intense pride of having such strong people at her back and by her side. She knew that they hid so very much of themselves from the village that they were experiencing some interesting reactions at the fact that they were being forced to show so much of themselves.

Kotetsu shifted, his brows furrowing before he made a soft sound, sitting up in Raidou's lap, forcing a grunt from him as his ass pressed up against his groin. Turning around, he blushed slightly. "Sorry about that," he said, patting Raidou's knee before he turned back to the group. "When I thought that he was loyal, we would do some late night training together in Training Grounds Sixteen. The ones with all of those boulders that were built for us to bounce around on. To test our balance and what not."

"Do you think that he would be there?" Izumo asked his lover, Kotetsu nodding his head as he smiled in return. "But when would you two go there?"

"Always on a Friday night, when most of the other free nin's are gathering together for a night, or heading to their beds for a long mission that was to start the next day. And it was always around one or two in the morning. If it's winter, we'd meet closer to eleven pm that night, or around six in the morning. We'd never know until the other would arrive and then we would go there depending on who was to be there for the first day," he said, nearly bouncing. Raidou growled and holding his hips still.

"Will you stop bouncing around on my dick? My pants aren't built to get hard in," Raidou whined, getting a burst of laughter from Naruto. "The only kind of bouncing that I would like you to do requires a place where we can have some privacy and lube, damnit. Not in front of our Hokage."

"At least someone here is getting laid often," Tsunade grumped, smirking as Naruto gagged while Iruka looked faintly uncomfortable.

"Ugh, that is not something I wanted to know, baa-chan," Naruto whined, pouting over at her. She huffed, squashing the need to coo at him when he was still looking sleepy, had damn near curled up on Iruka's lap, and was just the cutest thing in the world at the moment. "So, do you think you can meet with him on Friday? It is only a few days away," he said, steering the conversation back to their original discussion.

Kotetsu nodded his head as he looked thoughtful. "I think that for now, we should only take Haku-san and Zabuza-san with us though. They're the only two, outside of the Sand Siblings, that wouldn't jump at the chance to kick his ass."

"Kankuro would be a good balancing factor to have," Naruto mused. "Alright, we'll set this meeting up, have a giant slumber party over at my place since I could finally get another room done and open," he said as he stood up, wobbling only a little bit. "Would that work with you guys?" he asked.

"That will work. For now though, Naruto, go on home. Get some needed sleep, see if you can't convince Kankuro to sleep with you. Use him as a pillow or something," Tsunade instructed. She snickered at the blush that spread over Naruto's face as he headed for the front door. Iruka chuckled, following after him. Kotetsu smirked over at Izumo, watching as his lover rolled his eyes and stood up, dragging Genma off with a promising smirk.

"If you don't mind, Tsunade-sama, I have a few scenarios to go through with Raidou-san here," he said, smiling before he stood up. Tsunade rolled her eyes and waved him off, watching as the two chunins headed off with the rest of the group.

"At least some of us are getting laid," Tsunade muttered to the room. She stood and headed to the front door, locking it before checking the rest of the doors and windows. Shaking her head as she finally headed for her bedroom, she came to a stop just inside of the doorway, staring at the giant bumblebee that was perched on her favorite reading chair and holding a letter. Raising an eyebrow, she took the letter, patted the bee on the head, took it downstairs, fixed it some sugar water and watched it disappear once it had had its treat, amused by the buzzed 'thank you'.

Shaking her head and heading back upstairs, she opened the letter to find out what Killer B wanted to tell her this time. She proceeded to blush and act much like a schoolgirl. She did this to a point that one of her watching ANBU nearly fell out of the tree that he had been perched in at the sight of it.


	39. Our Truth 40

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 40

Characters: Tsunade, Haku, Naruto, Kabuto, Zabuza, Iruka

Word count: 1,712

Warnings: Nothing much. Just more plot.

AN: So I was supposed to post this yesterday but I'm quite tired, both yesterday and today. I'm dealing with a cold on top of that. I went shopping yesterday and ended up at home around 4:30 and nearly fell asleep at my laptop...

So this is a day late, but I'm going to write now. So enjoy.

* * *

Looking up from where he had been checking his tanto's positioning, Kabuto looked around him with a frown dancing on his lips before he yelped. He flailed backwards a bit when upside down blue eyes filled his vision. He grunted when a senbon slid into a nerve cluster, rendering him immobile easily before Naruto smirked and reached out, pushing him back into what felt like icy water, slim hands grasping his arms to tug him through.

"I am very sorry, Kabuto-san, but we need to speak with you and this is the only way to do so apparently," a soft voice said in his ear, drawing shivers as they came out of another mirror. He could see that it had been made of ice instead of just water, Naruto dropping through before it went back to it's water state and fell into a small bucket.

"Really, Kabuto-kun, your mask is kind of lacking in personality," Naruto hummed as he reached out and pulled his mask off, getting blinked at.

"You are able to speak, Kabuto-san, but you can not move quite yet," Haku told him, nodding to someone. Rolling his eyes, he smiled warily at the man who was known as the Demon of the Mist as he came forward to pick him up gently, moving his body around like a rag doll until it was in a comfortable position on the couch. Testing, he found that the sendon didn't hinder his head movements and his voice was indeed still working.

"Well, I don't think that I've ever been kidnapped before," he admitted, getting a soft chuckle from Tsunade as Iruka pouted at him from his spot.

If he could, he would have cringed at the sight of it.

"I have always hated that pout. Can you please stop, Iruka-san? I am terribly sorry about having to mess up your files, but I'm sure that you can understand why. As for the idiot who did get through, I really thought that he would have ended up strung up in one of the rooms, not with any actual files," he said, whimpering at the huff.

"Fine. But I will tell you now, I hold the right to use some of my favorite toys on any idiot that I catch, you got it?" Iruka stated, Kabuto nodding his head before he turned to look at Haku.

"You're very good with your senbon." He cracked his neck before he sighed with a sheepish look. "Can someone be kind enough to scratch the spot though? It itches just a touch."

"I can remove them," Haku said, reaching out to pull the senbon out and setting it down onto a small cloth to wash and disinfect later. "You'll be stuck in this position for the next little while should think of trying to escape. And if you try before we're done, I'll have to put you in a bed for a month," he warned sweetly, beaming as he was stared at by Kabuto. "Tsunade-sama has been nice enough to borrow some of her harder to find books while I was watching over Genma-san," he drawled.

Kabuto smiled up at him and nodded. "Well, I can tell you that I am hardly not going to do something stupid. Orochimaru-sama would be most displeased with me," he said.

"We're glad to hear that," Naruto grumped as he walked into the living room with several boxes on a dolly, having gone to help Iruka with them. "Though I really do hope to high hell that you have a _really_ good reason in bugging us while we're still going through all of the shit that has tried to pass as laws," he said.

"I can tell you right now that those who are after you were the ones who were supposedly put out of commission during the First and Second Hokage's time," Kabuto drawled, watching as Naruto put the dolly by the couch.

Removing the top box from the pile, Naruto simply raised an eyebrow as Kotetsu came in and took another box. "Madara and the Akatsuki right?" he asked. Kabuto nodded his head before he rocked his head back and forth since he didn't have use of his hands.

"Well, yes and no," he said, frowning at the group as Iruka came in with his own dolly full of boxes. "It's not just them who is trying hard to get into the Archives. They are actually working through Danzo. Though, I think that he does know that they are using him. He's just not sure as to what extent."

"Does he know that Madara is alive yet?" Tsunade asked him as she frowned, watching her chunin settle down and start to shift through the files in the boxes. "I don't think he would be to happy if he knew that the crazy bastard wants to see Kohona razed to the ground so he can get his revenge."

"No, he doesn't know." Kabuto frowned before he sighed as he felt his muscles go limp, not realizing that he had been tense since had been sat down. "He knows that they have asked him for help in taking out the structure of the Konohagakure government, and that they will leave it to him. And they will...but with Madara playing puppet master of course," he continued, shaking his head.

"So in summary, he's being played for a fool. Does he know this? Or even suspect?" Naruto asked as he pulled a bag out from under the couch, laying out several stamps and a couple of ink pads. He looked at Kabuto as he pulled one thick folder over to himself.

Kabuto hummed as he thought before he shook his head. "Not really, no. He knows that something is going on but not what, so he's very wary, but is still willing to work with them to get into the Archives," he said, his fingers twitching on the arm rest. Haku made a considering sound and walked over to him to run lightly glowing hands over his shoulders and arms, pulling a sigh from him as feeling started to come back to his limbs. "I was sent in to watch him carefully, make sure that he didn't fuck up too many things while other things were being fixed."

"Does that mean that Orochimaru knows what is going on with us here?" Naruto asked, looking up from the page that he had been reading over, red pen in hand. Kotetsu just grunted as he grabbed one of the stamps, pressing it into a red ink pad before pressing it to the paper.

"If he does, the next question would have to be is he going to fuck us all over?" he asked as he lifted the stamp, nodding when it glowed and sealed to the paper. "We can't really afford to be attacked on three fronts at the moment."

"No, no, Orochimaru-sama isn't out to hurt you," Kabuto sighed, shaking his head as he carefully worked his hands opened and closed, regaining feeling. "He wants to help you. Apparently, before he learned how to best combat the Sharingan's hypnosis, Madara was able to place one on him. And a very strong one at that. From there, he was able to twist his thoughts and for Danzo to go to him to be able to twist his experiments that were for the good of the village to something that was darker," he said, shaking his head.

"Can you tell me why you follow him?" Tsunade asked, staring at the young man before them.

"Despite how young I am, I can still remember, just as well as Anko-san does, what he was like during the years before Madara got a hold of him," Kabuto said, shaking his head. "It took nearly five years for the hypnosis to really start to work, and it then took another six for it to twist him enough to be fully used by Danzo."

"And during all of that, Hiruzen-sensei found out about the experimentation and things went sideways on a spiked dildo," Tsunade sighed, Kabuto nodding his head.

"Exactly." He shifted his body before he stood up with a grunt, bending over to rub at his legs. Kotetsu and Naruto shared a look while Tsunade slumped in her chair, rubbing at her face with hand. "When he started to regain himself after that last fight, he was horrified by what he had done during all of those years and has been working to fix what he had broken."

"Does this include his curse marks?" Naruto asked. Kabuto smiled as he shifted his shirt enough to show the group his own small mark that was now silver instead of black.

"He was able to figure out how to break the part of the mark that took over the mind, destroying it every time that it's used without care and turning the person into who he wanted them to be. It now just helps you to gain access to more of your chakra in a different way, but it can still be on the dangerous side if you overuse it. It is still using your chakra after all instead of creating more," he explained. "It is a wonderful way to help you expand your chakra reserves through as I've discovered. And with it, you can now take an outside source of chakra, say like healing chakra, funnel it into the person, and it would be like their own body was doing the healing. Which in turn greatly reduces the risk for those whose bodies reject outside chakras unless it's carefully applied."

"Well, fuck me," Naruto huffed, shaking his head as Tsunade and Haku surrounded the now nervous looking Kabuto to poke and scan his mark.

"It only took him a few decades to fulfill that damn promise of his. The asshole," Tsunade grumped, huffing as she crossed her arms.

Naruto just sent a smirk at the silver haired man. "Hey, Kabuto-kun, think you can get a message to your master?" he purred.

Kabuto stared at him for a second before he smiled slightly and nodded his head.


	40. Our Truth 41

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 41

Characters: Iruka, Crow

Word count: 1,731

Warnings: nothing, yet

AN: I am exhausted and have pretty much spent all day in bed, so I hope that you guys enjoy this. Hopefully things will finally calm the fuck down enough for me to relax.

Otherwise things are going to happen.

*sighs*

Enjoy everyone.

* * *

Walking around his kitchen as he put away the food that he had bought, Iruka sighed happily at the fact that he could get away from the rest of the group, even for just a day or two. Shaking his head with an amused smile dancing on his lips, he looked over to where Crow was sitting, his long fingers fiddling with some papers. He chuckled, shaking his head as he went back to making tea. He had figured out just who was under that mask, or so he thought, but to actually see under the mask was something else.

"Is matcha okay with you, Crow? I swear that Naruto and I both need to restock the cabinets with everything," he said as he wrote down a note to do a lot of food shopping. Especially since they all had their own guards to help with that. With so many people staying in one house, it was just a good idea to get them all to pitch in for the food. He would have to talk about that with the others.

He jumped slightly in surprise when an envelope that was bulging slightly slid into his line of sight by a well known hand. Crow chuckled softly next to him. "We got together finally and gathered money for the food and tea. At least the ANBU and Anko have. I don't know what the jounins are doing yet," he admitted, shrugging as Iruka picked up the envelope and counted out the money in it.

"It will more than cover everything. It'll allow me to buy a lot more than normal at least," Iruka hummed, watching as the other paused before going to dig around in his weapons bag.

"Oh yeah. Almost forgot, here, for the last few times that you had to feed us," Crow said, finding another thicker envelope. "This one _does_ include money from the jounins." Iruka took the envelope and counted out how much was in there, whistling lowly as his eyebrows rose.

"Well damn. Yeah that will be more than enough to restock our cabinets. Thank you," Iruka hummed as he tucked all of the money into his own weapons pouch, sealing it with a bit of chakra. "Matcha, right," he huffed when the kettle whistled at him. Crow just chuckled and sat down again. Iruka smiled and poured the water into two cups, mixing the powder into the water. Once he was done with that, he picked them and carried them out to the living room, finding that Crow was once more lounging and going through papers.

Crow took the offered cup and tilted his head back, nodding before he pushed his mask far enough up to expose his mouth so that he could taste the matcha, humming in pleasure. "This is good stuff," he chuckled, pulling his mask down as Iruka nodded, respectfully keeping his eyes glued to a window. "Tell me, Iruka-kun, how old are you? I've always wondered."

Iruka blushed at the question, sitting down as he huffed. "I'm actually turning twenty-six. I started to teach at the academy when I was sixteen and had just become a chunin. I was originally tapped as a career chunin by the last guy who lead them. And no, I can't tell you who it was, even now. Just as I can't tell you who the new leader is these days. Or who the apprentice is," he said, smirking at Crow.

"So just over ten years teaching, huh?" Crow shook his head, amazed that the man who had taught them so much in their last two years at the academy had only been teaching for those two years. At least officially. "How long were you training before you became a chunin and a teacher?" he asked, curious about the man who was smiling into his tea cup.

Iruka chuckled. "I was actually training for a good three years, even while I was still on a genin team. I was picked up soon after I had lost my parents actually," he sighed, swirling his tea around before he tasted it with a smile on his lips. "It ended up giving me something to focus all of my energy on, and I learned quite a bit, turning my mind into something more than just a foggy mess of grief and pain," he said.

Crow just stared at him, tilting his head slightly. He had known that Iruka had lost his parents during the Kyuubi attack eighteen years before, and that he had acted out much like Naruto had in his younger years. But then he had started to smooth out until he was a chunin, working at the academy as one of the better teachers, taking over their last two years of their schooling.

"Well then, I'm glad that you went on the path that you ended up choosing," he drawled, saluting the slightly blushing Iruka with his own tea cup. "You have been helping snot nosed brats for the last ten years to become some seriously great nin and I'm glad that I was a part of that."

Iruka hummed as he finished his tea, pulling some of his own paperwork from his back, starting to work on getting it done. Putting his empty tea set aside and tucking the finished papers into a folder nearly an hour later, he smirked as he said, "You know, you have some very distinctive hands. In or out of the damn gloves." His eyes flicked to the statue like ANBU across from him as his smirk widened.

Crow just chuckled and shook his head with a smile playing over his lips as he flexed his long fingers, unsurprised at the fact that the other man had figured out who he was under the mask. Shaking his head with a huff, he crossed his legs, settling back in the seat with an amused look on his face. "Why am I not surprised?" he asked, shaking his head.

"Because I just happen to be amazing like that," Iruka drawled as Choji pulled the mask up and off, setting it aside with a sigh of pleasure. "I'm sure that Naruto has already figured out who you are too. He's always been fascinated with hands since they're one part of a person's body that tells no lies," he said, shrugging a shoulder. "And your hands have always been rather lean with somewhat long fingers. More so since you grew into your body."

"Yeah. Despite the fact that I keep them kind of plump like the rest of my body, I tend to forget to do that in front of friends since it's not likely that I need to be battle ready in the village," Choji admitted, shrugging. "I've been doing it since I could learn how to channel my chakra and change my body shape the way that my family can."

"Your father does the same thing, I've noticed," Iruka said, shrugging as he shifted in his seat. "That is, he allows his body to just be when he's feeling safe and secure in his surroundings. A bar full of nins who have proven themselves loyal does that to him apparently."

Choji laughed and nodded, stretching his arms up and over his head with a groan. "Yeah. My cousins and family do it too. It's kind of interesting to see a bunch of us running around with thin fingers or really toned legs unlike normal when we tend to distribute our 'chakra-fat' around," he drawled as he relaxed into his chair. "I'll have to be careful though now. It seems that all of the career chunins are smarter than they show," he said before shaking his head.

"We kind of have to be, Choji-kun. We deal with all of you guys thinking that we have these cushy jobs where we do paperwork all the time and don't do any major fighting. But the thing is, we're the home-line defense. If the village is attacked, we're the ones who end up fighting in the streets while we get the civilians out of the way. We can't afford to fight fair either. We all know our tricks and traps of our fellow desk chunins so we can exploit them to our full advantage," Iruka drawled, standing up. "It was actually one of my traps at the Academy that turned the training field into a bloodbath. Amazing what you can do with some smoke bombs that are made by still learning children and a bit of ninja wire when you only have a couple of minutes max to lay things out."

Choji stared at Iruka with wide eyes before he shifted in his seat, glad he had worn looser pants then normal. "Damn," he breathed. "I saw the pictures that came from that. Ibiki said that no one ever believed him when he said that it had been a desk chunin so he had never learned the name when he showed the pictures to us during training." He licked his lips. "And I am so very glad that I have control of my body."

"And that would be why?" Iruka asked as he raised an eyebrow. He was curious as to what the other male was telling him.

Choji's chuckle was slow and rich, laced with a knowing lust that sent a thrill down Iruka's back. "Because I would have just come in my pants and I didn't think to bring another uniform."

Iruka hummed low and rich, a slow smile curling over his lips as his eyes darkened with desire. "Well then, you'll just have to remember to bring another uniform when you come by and act on your thoughts," he said before he stood, taking their cups to the kitchen. Choji just groaned and slumped in his chair, wanting it to be a free day for the two for them already.

Ever since he had reached puberty in his growth, Iruka had been on his top ten list of people to get laid by, but he had never thought that it would happen. But it was and it was going to be amazingly fun. He was looking forward to it. More so when he caught sight of the pert ass as Iruka bent in front of the fridge to find the things for snacks.


	41. Our Truth 42

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 42

Characters: Kabuto, Orochimaru

Word count: 1,978

Warnings: some really ew and odd mental images

AN: I am focusing hard. So hard on writing words and getting them down and out and ready for you guys in the future. But I'm also dealing with a great deal of mental and emotional exhaustion.

Which sucks many butts, but I will live.

Just for now, I hope you enjoy. :D

* * *

Staring down at the scroll laid out before him as he shook the inkwell, Kabuto scowled and sighed softly as he tried to figure out how to tell his master just what had been going on for the last few weeks. "Just how do I tell him that I have been kidnapped three times for meetings with one of his teammates who is still in this village to talk information and possible treaties?" he muttered as he put the inkwell down onto the table before he uncapped it.

Picking up a more pen like brush then the one that he had before, he dipped the bristles into the ink and tapped off the extra on the side, starting his message.

 _Orochimaru-sama, I have some rather interesting, if not amusing, information,_ he started, biting at his bottom lip as he shifted in place. He watched as new words started to scrawl across the page, making him groan at the sharpness of the writing. "Fuck," he moaned as they finished appearing.

 _What is it you mean that you have interesting, if not amusing, information? I'm really hoping that this information will not ruin anything that we are trying to do._

Swallowing to himself, he dipped his brush into the inkwell again and wrote. _No, no. If anything, it will end up helping us in the long run. It actually started about a week ago, when I had been sent out to do a new mission for Danzo,_ he started, dipping his brush again. The one thing about using an ink brush like the one that was in his hand that he hated was that it didn't hold quite as much ink as a normal specialty brush did. _I found myself kidnapped by Uzumaki Naruto and Haku to be taken to Tsunade-sama's home to speak with her desk chunin and their tokubetsu jounin._

 _They were all there? In one place?_ Orochimaru asked, the surprise written into the slanted rush of the words.

 _Yes, they were. Tsunade seemed..._ He paused in his thought as he frowned, glad that Orochimaru was giving him a few minutes to think about just what he needed to say. _She seemed grateful when I told her that you seemed to be going back to what she called 'her lovely snakey snake'._ He pressed his lips together and tried to stop himself from snickering at the memory of her calling Orochimaru that.

 _I always did hate that nickname._ Kabuto could easily see his master as he sighed and looked pained, shaking his head.

 _Yes, well, sir, she does seem rather happy about the fact that you are more yourself and she has sent me home this last time with a very thick letter to you. I think that she scolds you for the first four pages of it._ He shook his head as he dipped his brush, tapping the excess off once more. _Uzumaki-san and Umino-san have also sent letters to the both of you. They have promised that it just contains information as to what has been going on and what they have been able to learn. Along with a list of laws that were put into action without being approved by the Hokage._

 _Which just means that whoever is found to have followed them or used them to their advantage was in the wrong._ Kabuto smirked down at the paper.

 _They all have their hands just a tiny bit_ _full,_ _filling out all sorts of paperwork at the moment. It's highly amusing to hear so many curse words coming from them since they're usually so nice. And if I didn't know that some of their threats are physically possible, if not hard to do, I would have to worry about their mental state._ Kabuto's lips thinned out as he shifted and blushed, loading his brush with ink as he remembered just what some of those threats had been. _As it is, I am wondering if any of the people that they are going after will end up surviving their wrath._

 _Never think just for a moment that those Chunins are weak in any kind of way,_ came the reply, making him shake his head. _I fear for my own life when it comes to them and their creativity now that I have many more of my own memories. They are the last line of defense between an enemy and the village, so they must be the strongest in all ways._

 _Sir?_ Kabuto's eyebrows furrowed together as he thought about those words.

 _Those on the front line only see the war as it's coming straight at them, with no time to think or prepare._ The words were slow to come, flowing across the page, telling the young male that his master was thinking of how best to put his thoughts down to be understood properly. _But those who stay at home to be that homeline defense...they watch that line flow back and forth. They watch as people go out to the front lines, and if they're lucky, they get to watch them come back. Changed yes, broken in some cases, but still alive. If they're not so lucky, they never see them coming back, or if they do it's in a stasis scroll so that they can be buried. They have to be the strongest. But not just physically. They have to be strong mentally and emotionally_ _too._

Kabuto swallowed heavily, having never really thought of it that way. He had a feeling that the Chunin who worked the Archives wanted it that way too. _I see._ Swallowing again, he rubbed at his face before he dipped his brush into the ink again. _They wish to speak with you sometime soon. They have already spoken with Sasuke-san, but I don't know if he has told them just why he left you when he did with his team, or if he even told them that the two of you are still in contact._

 _He hasn't told them. He has just told them that he felt the urge to travel for a time, and had done so,_ Orochimaru wrote back. Kabuto nodded his head as he leant back. _I need you to come to our usual meeting place in one week. Tell Danzo that you are meeting your usual informant from Kiri to get away if you must and I shall have him come this way to be sure that he is seen._

 _I can do that easily. I will unfortunately not be able to stay much longer than a night at most._ Kabuto stopped writing, pressing his lips together as he thought about the fact that he wasn't going to be able to visit with the man for long. As much as he had wanted as a young teen, and in a way still did, he and Orochimaru were not lovers. But he still enjoyed being able to speak and be around his friend and mentor.

He had always been a touchstone, even during his most insane, for him.

 _Danzo has become a bit more paranoid since the chunins tightened security around themselves, Tsunade-sama, the Archives, and their homes and lands. So he is making sure that his 'people' are sticking close to home for the moment unless absolutely needed. I am lucky that the times that I was 'kidnapped' that I was on my way to fulfill a new assassination_. He stopped writing and put the brush down to rub at his face with a groan.

The words that came from Orochimaru were filled with worry, the slant and spacing all screaming them. _Does he suspect you at all_?

Kabuto picked up his brush and started to answer. _No, he doesn't. It is both a good and a bad thing I think._ He dipped the brush, taking his time to tap the ink off as he worked to get his thoughts in order. _He trusts me to a point where I'm his personal protector whenever I'm here, but I am also the one who does the most 'work' and does it well enough to be used as often as he needs._

He could feel the snort of disdain in the words that scrawled across the paper before him. _Oh yes, and he doesn't know that most of those assassinations have the people hiding away until we are able to deal with him. I swear that if I didn't know how smart that old war hawk was, I would say that he is an idiot. It's good that they all had so called 'brothers' or 'sisters' who could take over their place until we're done._ Kabuto hummed as he sipped his water before he promptly choked on it as the next words appeared. _He hasn't tried to fuck you has he? If he has, I have some very interesting plans for that very tiny dick of his._

Kabuto shuddered at that thought, a long 'ew' escaping from him as he shook his head several times in thought. _I will have you know that I just about lost the rather delightful lunch that Iruka-san was kind enough to feed me. What a waste of good food._ He could feel the snicker that was coming from his master. _But no. As I told him, my job does require me to be able to move properly and I tend to like my partner to be rough enough to make walking an issue for a good week. That and I don't sleep with those who are paying me. I am not a prostitute after all. I will sleep with a target. I will even sleep with someone of my choosing. I do not sleep with a boss or a former boss for over two years after we part ways._

Kabuto shuddered again as he scrunched his face up. "Ugh, ew. Disgusting. And I _have_ seen his dick. Tiny really doesn't cover it," he muttered. "At least not when you compare it to some of my old lovers."

 _Good. Just know that I still have plans. Lots of plans._ The way the words were written made the younger male think that his master wasn't just talking about plans to deal with Danzo. _Tell me what else has been going on with them please._

Kabuto smiled down at the paper, knowing that Orochimaru was looking for nothing short than gossip. _Kankuro-san of the Sand Siblings is staying behind in the Village while Kiba-san is heading to Sand. Gaara-san has been, well to put it bluntly, stalking him lately, much to the young Inuzuka's bewilderment. I'm wondering when Gaara-san finally gives in to his youkai instincts and just pounces upon him._

 _Yes, just wonderful. That's what I always needed to think about. Sex between a dog and a raccoon._

 _Sir? Have you gotten into the richer sake?_ Kabuto asked, his eyes wide at that.

 _Do shut up and keep telling me the news_. Kabuto snickered, hearing the unspoken 'yes' from him. That was the only time when his master had such odd thoughts after all.

 _Kankuro-san has also been seen starting to stalk young Uzumaki-san. I'm just waiting for Iruka-san to give him a dressing down. Haku and Zabuza-san are also watching over Neji-san and Shino-san both for some odd reason. The two have been seen blushing quite a bit around the lovers. It seems as if people are pairing off or adding to their relationships. Even Ino-san and Anko-san are being courted. By who I do not know._

Kabuto smiled to himself as he continued to share the newest gossip of the village, already feeling good even if he wasn't around Orochimaru's physical presence. He didn't know that his master was already making new plans for what would happen the moment that they saw each other again.

Orochimaru had so many delightful ideas and he was hoping to use at least two of them.


	42. Our Truth 44

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 44

Characters: Tsunade, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Naruto, Iruka, Jiraiya, Izumo, Kotetsu, Raidou, Genma

Word count: 1,866

Warnings: Nothing major

AN: Starting next week we will end up going back to the normal every day schedule. Since it is the first week of the month I will be kind of busy and I need to rest a bit before I start doing the usual thing with my posting schedule.

I am working on a lot of things, including a 4 part 4-some story and I just finished a NCIS fic that is just waiting for me to edit it, so I'm ready for my usual wednesday postings and I'm working on finishing off a few shorter stories for my Monday/Friday posting.

Hurrah for me.

Enjoy.

* * *

"Tell me, do we have _any_ idea as to what we're going to do?" Tsunade asked as she looked up from her cup, scowling slightly as Gaara took a seat on the floor of her living room. Temari sat on the couch behind him while Kankuro sat down next to a blushing Naruto with Iruka sitting on his other side. Jiraiya was sitting in one of the single seats, looking bored once more as Izumo and Kotetsu sat in Genma's and Raidou's laps on the loveseat.

"I was planning on heading out with our little medic spy when he goes out to meet Oro-chan this next time," Jiraiya said, shrugging one shoulder before he pursed his lips. "No idea what I'm going to do while I'm there since it won't take us long to go over anything. I do need to spend at least a week to make it look like I'm actually doing research and checking in on my contacts," he continued.

"That means that you will be leaving after Kabuto does and meet with Orochimaru to find out what is going on?" Izumo asked as he leant into Genma's chest, stealing his senbon with a look.

"That's right. I'll try and send a summons with a report when I find out more, but I'm not really able to promise anything major or breaking during this," Jiraiya said, shrugging one shoulder. "It should be just fine, but again, I can't promise anything," he said, looking over the group.

"At the very least we can hopefully learn more than what Kabuto-kun has been able to tell us the last couple of weeks when we meet," Naruto said. Tsunade smiled at him, noticing that he had stopped blushing so brightly, which made her happy about that fact. She needed all of her people focused on what was going on around them.

"So while Jiraiya meets with Orochimaru, what are my dear little chunin going to do during this time?" Tsunade asked, looking over the four chunin and their tokubetsu jounin.

Iruka sat up, hiding his smugness behind a veneer of professionalism before he answered her question. "We're actually still going through all of the laws that had been 'passed' since Hiruzen-sama had taken over as Hokage for the Second time. We have found three of them so far that we have to strip the power by using some of the pre-filled forms unfortunately. They made their way into the Archives. We did write down the information that we gave you when did arrive," he said, nodding over to the scroll that now sat on a side table.

Tsunade looked over to the scroll before she nodded her head, understanding what was being said. "I'll go over that tonight and fill out the paperwork that I have a feeling is in there so that it's a permanent change."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Iruka said, nodding his head with a smile on his lips before he continued to fill her in. "I think that while Jiraiya-sama is on his trip that we shall continue to go through everything. And I'm thinking that we'll be activating the seals to record any new information that has not been turned in yet."

"Seals? What seals?" Kankuro asked, laying his arm over the couch behind Naruto and getting a blushing look. He smiled at that but was still curious as to what Iruka was talking about.

"There are several hundred seals that are laid out all over the village that was placed down by the first of the career chunins that forcibly records all of the information that has been written down or brought into the village," Kotetsu told him after getting nods from Iruka and Tsunade.

"Those seals are works of genius actually. Pure, unadulterated genius," Jiraiya sighed in delight at the thought of them, remembering when he had been able to research them as part of his Seal Mastery. "Truly a delight of the Uzumaki fuinjutsu. They are built to target certain things only, which means that any book that has been used to carry information in or out of the village is copied. Along with that, the seals don't really care how well you protect it, they _will_ get the information. Which means that we can finally get all that lovely information that Danzo tries so hard to hide."

"You do not often activate them? Why not?" Gaara asked, looking to Naruto with a curious look as the blond shook his head with a frown.

"The last time that they were activated for any reason was before Hiruzen-sama took the position of Hokage the first time. Since then, it hasn't really occurred to the desk chunin to use them since he really didn't like them being used," Raidou said, stroking over Kotetsu's hips as he thought. "I'm thinking that it has been long overdue, especially since we're having to clean up all of this bullshit now. It's been sitting for longer than we've been doing this I'm thinking."

"For all that he was a good Hokage, Hiruzen-san didn't like some of the dirtier aspects of a career chunin and we did have to work with him so it was easier to just do it that way," Iruka said, shrugging.

"When are you guys going to activate them? I take it that it will be soon," Temari said. She had been surprised when the group had invited her and her brothers to the meeting but she was starting to feel good about it since it was as if they were trying to bring the three of them into their circle.

"We'll do it tonight after Jiraiya has left with Kabuto-kun to meet with Orochimaru-san," Naruto replied, ignoring the mutter from Jiraiya about Orochimaru getting more respect from him then his own master did. "We've been working on gathering all of the paper and ink since it's all specialized and it's going to take a lot of it. The ink is made despite the specialty of it, but the paper was finally delivered a couple of days ago."

"All of my chunin are very good at making sure that things get done when they need to. There's a good reason why I don't really mind letting them do what they feel they need to do," Tsunade told the Sand Siblings, smirking slightly. "I do know that Hiruzen-sensei tried to get the Kage before your father to create a team but they didn't bother to listen to his suggestions and your father was a paranoid bastard."

"I think that I shall start looking into creating such a team when I am back in Suna once again," Gaara replied, nodding his head as he started to think about what he had to do to create a team like that.

"If you want me to, I can show you the rules and regulations that all of the Archival Chunin are ruled by here," Iruka offered him. "We can also show you what we look for in new possible career chunin, and what kind of psychological review you would need to do for them."

"That would help me in creating our own teams, thank you," Gaara said, nodding his head in return with a smile. "Jiraiya-san, do you think that the seals you have here could be applied in Suna? Perhaps with modifications in mind for our chakra styles and environment?" he asked, turning to Jiraiya and Tsunade.

"I don't see why not. But the seals themselves can't get out past you and your family, or Seal Masters after he places them. The usage of them is easy enough with a specialized seal to activate them," Tsunade finally said after a moment of thinking. "I'll have Kotetsu draw up a basic village seal agreement before you and Temari leave here," she promised. Kotetsu sighed as he pulled out a pad of paper and a pen from one pocket, starting to write down what he would need to brush up on before he wrote the agreement. Raidou chuckled and watched as he wrote in his personal code with well practiced ease, deciphering it over his shoulder.

"Cool. This means that we can watch the idiots on the council with a closer eye," Kankuro snorted, shaking his head. "Though we might have to apply our training to lie six ways to Sunday about them. Tell them that they're a security measure, an alarm system if you will."

"It's not that hard of a sale. Jiraiya here is well known to lay seals down that others would find near impossible to decipher without a lot of training beforehand for good reasons," Naruto said, thinking as he frown. "It won't be unusual for him to travel to Suna on a goodwill mission since we're also trading nin."

"That sounds like a good excuse to me. Is there anything else that we need to discuss tonight?" Tsunade asked, looking over the rest of the group in her living room.

"Oh yeah, how about the compensation for allowing those who shouldn't be at my house to stay? Especially since I don't really have the rooms to let them staying. And the matching paperwork," Naruto said, sitting up after a moment.

"Oh, right, right. I have that," Tsunade said. Standing up, she headed into her personal office just off of the living room, picking up the scroll from Iruka and taking it with her. She came back a few minutes later after hunting down the right scroll and handed over a decidedly slim sealing scroll to Naruto. "The payment and papers that are blood sealed to your blood and chakra signature as promised."

"Well now, if that's all, I really need to head on out and meet with Kabuto-kun," Jiraiya drawled as he stood up, picking up his travel bags and giant travel scroll.

It didn't take long for the group to gather everything up and leave, their guards following after their charges. Jiraiya slipped out of the village not five minutes after leaving Tsunade's home, meeting up with Kabuto ten minutes outside of the walls and heading to the village that was just a day's run away.

The desk chunins and their two tokubetsu jounin helpers on the other hand locked themselves into one of the many basement rooms of the Hokage tower, this one covered in delicate elegant seals and arrays. The guards took up their posts outside of the room and waited for their charges to get done.

The group didn't leave the room until the early hours of the morning, the sun not yet peeking over the horizon. Iruka locked the door behind them, sealing in the boxes of scrolls, books and loose papers in the room. They told the curious guards that they would get them after they got some sleep while those on shift would live off of specialized energy pills and bars.

Raidou grumped as he collected Neji, who had luckily gotten a nap in, and headed to finish off his night at the monitors and taking late night mission reports.


	43. Our Truth 45

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 45

Characters: some Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Kabuto

Word count: 1,275

Warnings: Nothing, yet

AN: So this is a little late (it's about to hit 8PM here you guys), but today hasn't been kind to me. But! I'm back to my twice weekly posting schedule so I'm hoping that you're all going to enjoy this fact!

Enjoy.

* * *

"Well then, I do think that we're all done here," Jiraiya sighed as he rolled up the scroll that had all of the information that Orochimaru had given him, Kabuto adding what details that he could, tucking it into his bag. "I think now that I'm going to be myself," he said, standing up and smirking at his friend, getting a narrow eyed look from the man. Kabuto just rolled his eyes in amusement and removed the guards that he wore on his arms and legs.

"And I'm sure that you have a room for yourself yes?" Orochimaru asked, Jiraiya smirking and nodding. "What is it and where is it?" he asked him.

"The one that I'm actually gonna stay at is in the Prish Inn in room 233. It's an old favorite and one that I've sealed up tighter than your priss ass," Jiraiya teased. He smirked again as he pulled his bag on. "I'm off."

With that taken care of, the Toad Sannin walked out of the room with a smirk, leaving Orochimaru to snort as Kabuto shook his head. "He has always been so damn confusing," the Snake Sannin sighed, looking to the medic next to him. "Is your mission still going well?" he asked, concerned for the younger man.

Kabuto hummed and nodded his head, smiling at the other man. "It is going just fine. Danzo is actually in a bit of a tizzy and he's not going to like the fact that the chunin will have gotten all of his files last night. At least when they finally tell him that they got them that is," he said. Orochimaru chuckled softly, sitting back on one hand.

Kabuto looked over at him out of the side of his eyes, gazing at the long body of his master and friend. Orochimaru had always been androgynous but he was even more so now that he was back in his original body. There was just something about the way that he felt in his own body, a smoothness that came from ease of comfort. It also helped that he had been rather young when he had done his first body jump so he was closer to Kabuto's physical age.

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto started, watching as yellow-gold eyes turned to him as a slim brow rose up in silent amusement. He blushed slightly at the silent chastement. "Orochimaru, I have a question but I'm not sure if it would be considered intrusive or not."

"You are always so polite around me, Kabuto-san," Orochimaru teased softly, shaking his head as he rested his arms on the table. "Do not be afraid to ask your questions. I do not have many things that I would hide from you," he said, getting a small smile from the younger man.

"I'm rather curious about this, but were you and Jiraiya-sama lovers at one time?" Kabuto asked, tilting his head to the side. Orochimaru hummed softly as he sat up straighter, reaching out for his tea cup and sipping at the now perfect tea.

"Once upon a time, a long time ago. When we were still young and fighting a war that was slowly driving the nations into insanity," Orochimaru admitted as he shrugged one shoulder. "He loved, and still does love, having women in his bed more often than not. But with the two of us, it was more of a connection that we needed at the time. It had nothing to do with our hearts, but instead was just a connection that we needed. It worked for us at the time," he said.

"Would you ever think of getting back with him if you had the chance?" Kabuto asked, picking up his own tea cup.

Orochimaru shook his head with a smile. "We wouldn't work now. He is quite happy to be a bachelor with no real urge to settle now that there is just so much going on that he needs to be focused on. And I myself have my eye on someone else," he said.

Kabuto looked at him in interest, trying to hide the fact that he was curious about who that could be, but not quite pulling it off. "Do you?" he asked as he shifted in place, the Snake Sannin smirking smugly at him.

"Truly, Kabuto, you are not that oblivious. Do work on that particular acting skill," he purred, reaching out with one hand to poke Kabuto's nose, watching him blush as he wrinkled it.

"Yes, I do suppose that I shall have to work on that," Kabuto hummed as he smiled shyly. Orochimaru could feel nothing but feel amazement at just how much the young man could change when he was relaxed and opening up about his own feelings. He was surprisingly sweet. Shy. Almost like the young Hyuuga Heiress was most of the time.

It was rather arousing to him.

Shaking his head and pushing those thoughts to the side for the moment, Orochimaru stood up and walked to the door, making sure that it was locked and sealed before doing the same with the two windows in the main room and the bathroom window. Walking up to where Kabuto still sat, he extended his hand in silent question, allowing the other man to decide on what he wanted to do. He smiled when the medic took his hand and allowed him to pull him up into a standing position.

"I hope that you realized that I am not like what I used to be. Both before Madara's hypnosis got to me and while I was under it," he said, pulling his soon to be lover close, arms wrapping around Kabuto's waist.

Kabuto sighed softly as he rested his forehead against Orochimaru's collarbone, hands coming to rest on his shoulders as he nodded. "I know. You have all of those experiences now in your past, both good and bad. I want to get to know you again, but…"

"But you are tired of waiting?" Orochimaru asked, raising an eyebrow and getting a soft blush from his soon to be lover.

"Exactly." Kabuto smiled softly as he lifted his head, looking up into caring yellow-gold eyes. It had been rare to see any kind of emotion in the usually guarded eyes when Orochimaru had been under Madara's hypnosis, but to see such softness sent shivers of delight through him. Smiling lightly, he decided that just for his Orochimaru-sama he would shed the facade that he had adopted over the years.

It wasn't as if the chunins and Tsunade-san hadn't already seen the softer side of himself as it was.

"We'll have to get you some help for everything that I have put you through over the years," Orochimaru mused, brushing his lips over Kabuto's forehead. One hand removed the bandana that held his lover's silver hair back. Dropping the piece of cloth down onto the table, he smiled at the fact that his young love had once more starting to take better care of his hair, actually having a reason to do something with it.

The locks were still thick, and he had no doubt that they always would be, but they still had a silkiness to them that came from proper care.

"Tsunade-san drew me aside after one of our meetings and told me that she had set me up with someone to help me. Inoichi-san is under a clause to never speak about our meetings until things are fully fixed," Kabuto admitted, even as he leant into the touch with a sigh of pleasure.


	44. Our Truth 47

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 47

Characters: Sasuke, Tsunade, Naruto, Genma, Raidou, Izumo, Kotetsu, Iruka, Kabuto

Word count: 1699

Warnings: talking of killing and assinations.

AN: You are getting this on Sunday because tomorrow I'm not going to be home. So, yay for early things!

Enjoy

* * *

Sighing as he worked his way past the traps that littered Naruto's land, glad that his friend had keyed him into the wards the last time that he had been by, Sasuke walked through the door. He closed it behind him and smiled at the called greeting. It was nice to be expected since it meant that he didn't have to cover his groin, trying to hide it from the glare that kept being leveled his way by Tsunade. He feared for his parts each time since she liked to play with a kunai.

Naruto snorted as he shook his head at the amusing sight of his friend trying to cringe without looking like he was as he stood in the doorway to the dining room. He looked back and forth between them. "Baa-chan, would you put the damn kunai away and come sit down? The same with you," he said, looking at Sasuke. "The others are already here to know what you've learned about the Akatsuki for us," he said. Sasuke inched his way around where Tsunade had taken to standing, not trusting her not to attack him for daring to hurt her baby brother.

Slipping into the dining room, he sighed as his stomach growled at the spread of food that was on the table, swallowing him drool. After spending so long living off of field rations and wild game, the food that was waiting for them was enough to say fuck it all and gorge himself. He had known even in their genin days that Naruto was a good cook. But by the looks of it, he had gotten even better.

Along with the normal rice, there was also mochi, sekihan, onigiri and kitsune udon scattered amongst the bigger dishes. Yakitori, natto, various types of tempura, tonkatsu, several types of sushi, curry bread, anpan, gyoza, two shabu-shabu set ups, oden, zoni, umeboshi, and what looked to be individual pots of tea.

Naruto smirked as he walked out with bowls of ramen on a tray, placing the small bowls next to each place, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "Come on. I made you one of your favorite ramens and there is a lot of food made. Mostly because Raidou and Genma here can be bottomless pits for stomachs after they train hard. Our usual watchers are in the kitchen since there's not enough room," he said.

Sasuke blinked a few times at his friend before he reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a roll of ryo, handing it over to Naruto. "Thank you for feeding me," he said. He sat down next to Izumo, who stared at him with an amused smile.

"He loves to feed us, Sasuke, and with the fact that he's also being paid to do so works well for all of us," Izumo drawled, winking at Sasuke. He reached out with a set of chopsticks towards the vegetable tempura, yelping when Naruto smacked him with a large chopstick.

"Not yet, you pit," Naruto growled, getting a pout from the other man. "Come on, claim your ramen there, Sasuke. Then we can all eat and work on what we came together to do."

Sasuke flicked his eyes over to Tsunade as she sat down next to Genma on the other side, raising an eyebrow at her as she took her own vegetable ramen from Naruto with a nod. "That sounds good. What kind did you end up making?" he asked as he took the bowl with a slight smile.

"Shoyu with nori, chashu, and scallions. Like I said, one of your favorites," Naruto said as he put the tray out of the way. He took his own seat at the head of the table and picked up his chopsticks, breaking them before he smiled. "Itadakimasu," he chirped, getting a chorus of the word from the gathered group. Haku pushed open the sliding doors to the kitchen with a smile before disappearing back into it.

"Did you learn anything else since the last time that you were able to see us?" Izumo asked as he placed some of the food onto his own plate. Sasuke looked up from his ramen, noodles disappearing into his mouth as he blinked at the other man.

He chewed and swallowed his bite before answering. "Yeah, I was able to learn where the group will be meeting in the next few weeks. Or at least for what I've learned. You'll probably need to coordinate the hits to happen all at the same time, but really, it shouldn't be too hard," Sasuke said. He ate another bite of his ramen and hummed happily. Chewing and swallowing, he eyed the offerings on the plates before him before he reached out with chopsticks to snag a few things for his plate. "I have a full layout of those buildings that I was able to go over, so I'll leave those with you guys," he promised.

Naruto nodded. "Are they close-ish?" he asked his friend. Sasuke wiggled his hand back and forth as he chewed on some meat. Humming thoughtfully, the blond nodded his head and turned back to his own food, eating slowly as he thought about things. Genma and Raidou were eating their weight in the food that had been sectioned off just for them. They were listening to the conversation but were still intent on replacing the calories and fats that they had burnt off and were still burning off.

Tsunade played with her chopsticks as she looked over her people, a thoughtful look on her face as she watched them. "I have a feeling that we're going to have do this the old fashioned way."

"Old fashioned...do you mean…?" Iruka asked, having been quiet while bent over some papers that he had been marking since Sasuke had arrived.

Sasuke looked around the table, frowning heavily at the blank looks on the desk chunin's faces. "What is it you mean?" he asked, looking to Kotetsu, who just sighed softly.

"The old fashioned way is from when nin didn't just fight big flashy battles with their chakra. It comes from when it was just wandering clans and smaller groups of unconnected families. During that time, they would use stealth exclusively to get to the people that they wanted dead," Kotetsu said, frowning. "During each war that has ever happened? Those old ways are brought back. Orochimaru-san, Tsunade-san, and Jiraiya-san are all practitioners of it. ANBU and Hunter nins are also trained in the more stealthy ways of doing a mission," he continued.

"So, what about the career chunins?" Sasuke asked him as he tilted his head. Naruto huffed and pouted as he stirred his ramen noodles.

"It's something that we train in about two months after the first three months on the job. It's really hard training and it's harder on the mind, thus why it's three months into the training before we even start on learning it," Naruto said. He shrugged. "During those first three months, we start to shift the way that we think and retain information, making the process better. More of a streamlined process. It helps us to remember everything. With the way we're trained means that we can keep all of our secrets, even through torture. But to make sure of it we do have seals."

"Mind you, the seals are just backup," Tsunade said, Naruto nodding as Sasuke thoughtfully ate a tomato filled onigiri. "So we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way then. No flashy jutsu, no flashy fights. We just sneak in and assassinate them. If you have to fight them, fight them the old way. Use the training that you have all been working ever since you took your job and put it to good use. You're strong and smart. You will take a guard with you during this though. At the very least, once you're done with the killing, bring their heads."

"I take it that we'll be able to claim the bounties?" Genma asked, tilting his head with a smirk at the Hokage.

"You will be. It'll be a part of your pay for this mission. Naruto-kun, I think that with you, I want Kankuro-san or Anko-san. Genma-kun, maybe Zabuza-san while Haku-san will go with Raidou. Iruka, take either Gai-san or Crow-san. Izumo-kun, you might be paired with Asuma-san, or someone of your choice. Maybe Kabuto-kun would be the best option for you. Kotetsu-kun, you might end up taking Neji-san with you. Mind you, this is not set in stone." She looked over the table. "Do we understand this?" she asked, the group nodding their heads.

"Good. Now, let's eat and then we can go over the plans for who is taking out who," Naruto said, everyone nodding again before they turned to their dinners. Once the dishes had been cleared away and Kabuto had been 'kidnapped', again and much to his distaste, they all settled into the living room. They went over who had been paired with who and where they would probably land according to Orochimaru's and Sasuke's information.

They finally decided on a few of the pairings that would go out to get the people and the various pairings. Deidara and Sasori would be the furthest next to their spy and his lover, so whoever went after them would have to leave second, followed by the pair who went after Hidan and Kakuzu. Naruto and Kankuro would approach Itachi and his lover Kisame to recall the spying Uchiha before heading to the final target.

They all hoped that bringing the shark like man back with Itachi would happen since it would make Itachi happy and be a major blow to Kumo.

Naruto just sighed as he was able to head to the meditation room and close the door behind him, leaving him alone. Moving to his meditation pillows, he settled onto one, already knowing that he was going to have a hard time to find such peace. Even as he relaxed into a meditative state, he decided that it would be so very worth it to end all their problems.


	45. Our Truth 48

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 48

Characters: Choji, Naruto

Word count: 1921

Warnings: Nothing

AN: I caught a frickin' frackin' cold. *whines* This sucks. Big time. But I hope you still enjoy.

So enjoy.

* * *

Sighing as he stepped out of the meditation room into the quiet of the house, Naruto rolled his shoulders with a groan, rubbing at them as he listened for anyone that was still awake. Finding that they had all retired to their own rooms, he smiled to himself before heading to the kitchen, intent on making some tea for himself and something light to eat.

Stepping into the dark kitchen, he took a moment to set the light dimmer to give himself light without flooding the hallway with it. He knew from experience that it could filter into the closer bedrooms since the light tended to bounce on the freshly painted walls. Thus why when he had all of the rooms redone, he had put dimmer switches in along with the normal light switches. So far, they were well liked.

Walking to the stove, he picked up his kettle, shaking it to check how much water was in it before he moved to the sink to fill it with water. Humming softly, he put the kettle onto the stove and allowed it to heat as he pulled down a tea bag and a cup, dropping the bag into it. He smiled at the ease of using a tea bag, especially so late at night when he didn't want to mess with loose leaf. He still prefered the loose leaf though.

After the water started to boil and he poured it into the cup, he placed the kettle onto a cold burner to cool before heading for the back door, sliding it open. He smiled at finding that Crow had taken to lounging back on the swinging bench with a small light next to him and book in hand. "Got the night duties?" he asked softly.

Crow turned to face him but shook his head. "I couldn't sleep so I sent Gai-san to bed since he's been going on nothing but coffee and sheer will power because of the bullshit that's been going on," he admitted, picking up his coffee cup with a smirk. He shrugged as he lifted the mask slightly to sip his coffee. "Thinking hard?" he asked, getting a better look at Naruto.

Naruto sighed but nodded, sitting down next to his friend and played with his tea bag, eyes thoughtful as he watched the flowers sway under the moonlight as a breeze moved through the garden. "Did you know that it was my mother who planted all of those flowers?" he asked. Choji shook his head, finally just pulling his mask and set it aside.

"No, I didn't know that. They're really pretty," he said, his eyes taking in the vibrancy of the colors and the fact that he hadn't ever seen any of them growing in Konohagakure.

"And I can tell you that not a single one is native to this part of the world," Naruto hummed, smiling slightly. "There's a place in the Land of Lightning that's near Kumogakure that isn't touched because of all of the plants that live there. They grow so well here because our land, like that bit of land, is naturally rich in chakra. They grow so vibrantly because it seeps into the very land around them, even here."

"Wow. Are there any reasons why they're not touched?" Choji asked. Naruto pulled his tea bag out of the cup in his hand, squeezing it before he dropped it into a small trash can that sat under the swing.

"It's because of their medical properties," he admitted, nibbling at his bottom lip. "If you take that purple one there, dry it out and grind it up, you can add it to a basic medical cream to create one that will stop bleeding. It's all natural, the wound can be stitched with it in, and make it so that if need be the wound will heal without a lot of chakra.

"Or you can take the same petals and gently bruise them before you add them to cooking oil, alcohol, or hydrogen peroxide. With the cooking oil, it'll lend a sweet taste to the food and kill a lot of the bad fats in foods. For the rubbing alcohol and peroxide, it would add a numbing agent and help to add more of an oomph to the cleansing aspects," Naruto told him. "The red one though you would take and mash it up with the purple one and a few other herbs, making sure that it becomes a smooth, creamy texture. It will give you a bruise cream that you wouldn't need to use a lot of."

"Why not use them then?" Choji asked him, blinking a few times. He looked over to Naruto. "And how did they come here?"

"My mom was the one who brought hundreds of seeds from there and planted them here. As for why I don't use them is because I'm still coaxing them to regrow again. There are about six bushes of each color out there that was able to last through years of not being looked after since I was denied my birthright for so long," Naruto admitted. "We used to be able to get them from Kumo before they fucked up so hard."

"I did not know about that. I bet that Ino would have a fit over you having these and demand that you allow her cuttings or seeds," Choji sighed. He knew the insanity of his friend when it came to rare plants. She had often tried to steal away Naruto's pride and joy, a pretty little flowering plant that needed a special type of care plant. Each time had ended up in some rather explosive fights.

"She won't be able to get any kind of permission to grow these flowers. Even if I could, I wouldn't," Naruto admitted, looking over at Choji. "They're tied to my family and my family only. When any children are born via a surrogate, they'll get to grow them, but no one else." Choji's silent 'why' was clearly heard even as he sipped his coffee. The blond chuckled. "To get permission, she would need to travel to Kumo, hike to the valley with absolutely no chakra used and petition the guardians of the land for the right to grow the seeds."

"And that's what your mom did to get her permission?" Choji asked. Naruto smiled and nodded. "That's not what you're thinking about though, are you?"

"Are we going about all of this the right way?" Naruto asked after a moment of sipping his tea and watching the flowers dance. "I mean, I do know that we're nin and that assassinations are commonplace in our life, even more so in wartime situations than in a peaceful time...but still."

Choji hummed and reached out, tugging his friend close with a small smile as the slimmer man sighed as he curled against his side. They hadn't been close friends during their younger years, Shikamaru having taken Choji's best friend, and Naruto having been mostly friendless with only a few allies through those years. But ever since they had all grown up, they had gotten closer to each other.

"I think that we are," he finally said after thinking. "We're gonna see if we can't bring back our spy and his lover, see if Jiraiya-sama and yourself can't talk some sense into that old student of his and maybe finally off, or seal, the supposedly immortal bastard once and for all. And if that requires us to be the so called 'monsters' that the civilian's think us to be, then so be it."

Naruto sighed as he rubbed his cheek against his friend's shoulder. "I don't want my friends to look at me like they don't know me after this. I know that us career chunin have the ability to put any jounin out there to shame, but we have to use our abilities to do a job that is amazingly dangerous…" He bit his bottom lip. "I've been talking with Kankuro and Gaara about what it does mean to be a career chunin and why it's probably the hardest rank that any of his men will hold."

"You can't really ever rise above chunin can you? You can become Hokage, true but all that knowledge you have now would have to be locked down even tighter than it is right now. And you would never be able to really update it. Right?" Choji asked, Naruto nodding his head. "Did you give up your dreams of being Hokage?" he asked.

"It wasn't really a dream but rather a need to get the attention that I so wanted as a child. It was for all of the wrong reasons and then I started to go out on missions. I started to focus on my training. I saw what the life of a nin truly is and it knocked me out of the naivety that came with not being told anything." Naruto sighed softly as he threw his legs over one of Choji's legs. "I know that Tsunade would make me the Hokage if I really wanted to be, but I think that I will do my best being a supporter of the Hokage, instead of being one."

Choji went stiff as he thought about something before relaxing and snorting. "You're Iruka's apprentice, aren't you?" he asked, teasingly. Naruto just smiled. "Or at least one of them."

"I'm his only one at the moment. If he decides to be just an Archival worker, I'll take over his duties that he has now. Or if he dies, I'll take those duties over. We're all trained really but only one of us right now could be named the taicho of our group. Iruka will teach others as we go along, the same as Izumo and Kotetsu will for their jobs as the fukutaichos if you want to call them that. Raidou and Genma are forever looking for those who could be tokubetsu jounin and do their jobs pretty damn well but they have to get them as genin. It is a hard process really to find a proper apprentice."

"Sounds really tough," Choji hummed, smiling as Naruto drained his tea. "We'll do this and then move on. You'll probably finish your training before all of this shit ends, and then you'll go out on an actual date with Kankuro-san."

"Choji," Naruto groaned as he hid his face in one hand, listening to his friend's rumbling laughter against his ear. "Why do you say that?"

"I say that because I can see just how you look at him and how he looks at you," Choji said. "He wouldn't mind getting a piece of your perky ass. He would probably love to have the whole damn package, dating included, but he'll be very happy with friendship if that's all you can offer him. I do know though that he returns your feelings for him, such as they are."

Naruto sighed and grabbed a fan from where it was hidden, waving it in front of his face as he glared at his friend. "God, I can hope I suppose," he sighed. Shaking his head, he huffed and smiled. "Thank you, Choji, for talking with me."

"It's not a problem," Choji said, watching as Naruto stood up and stepped back inside. He pulled his mask back on and went back to watching the way the flowers danced in the wind.


	46. Our Truth 49

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 49

Characters: Naruto, Kurama, some Yasu

Word count: 1834

Warnings: nothing

AN: Tiny bit late. I'm still dealing with a cold but I'm doing better, I promise. For now, enjoy.

* * *

Staring out over Naruto's mental-scape, Kurama shifted in position to look over at his friend and unfortunate jailer, smiling when he sat next to him. "Have I been agitated enough that you felt the need to come visit with me?" he asked.

Naruto snorted and gave him a long look. "Yes, you have been and I know it's not because I don't visit with you enough. So I'm thinking that it had to do with Sasuke's visit a couple days ago. Wanna tell me what bug crawled up your ass?" he asked as he tilted his head to the side. "Or is it that you haven't gotten laid in nearly a hundred years?" he asked teasingly.

Kurama huffed and pouted. "No, nothing like that, you damn brat. I _am_ perfectly capable of being happy without you learning about it," Kurama said, shaking his head. "No, nothing like that." He frowned slightly as he rested his chin in one hand, Naruto staring at him.

"So what's up?" Naruto asked finally, looking out over the scenery of his mental-scape with the fox. He noticed that there were blooming plants that looked a lot like the ones that his mother had planted that were mixed in with another plant. One that he was slowly cultivating into thriving so that he could move into the greenhouse when it was fully fixed.

Kurama made a thoughtful sound. "I'm starting to remember more things. Between that Sharingan happy bastard Madara controlling me so many times and the sealings, I forgot a lot."

Naruto stared at him for a few minutes before he turned to look back out over the flowers. "What are you starting to remember?" he asked, worried, almost, as to what it was that was making Kurama so agitated.

"I remember that at one time I was a part of a whole before we, the bijuu, were split into nine beings." Naruto's head whipped around as he stared at Kurama with wide eyes. The fox sighed, his tails twitching behind him. "My looks are a mix of my; well I suppose that you can call him our father since he was the one who created us; our father and his mother. You know those legends right? And they are the truth," he said, Naruto nodding. "I was chosen to take the form of the fox because I had the power and the smarts to use it. Before I was used by Madara for his own needs."

"So you lost your mind and sanity pretty much," Naruto said. Kurama nodded and sat up straight with a low sigh.

"Yes. I remembered the first time that I was sealed away, into Mito-san, and how sad she was with how insane I seemed. She would often visit me where I was sealed within her and try to speak with me. But I would never care that she was trying to figure out what had made me change so much. Then later, after being sealed in your mother, she would try to figure me out before giving up and chaining me down for her own sanity and health."

"And then she gave birth to me and you got loose," Naruto said. Kurama snorted softly before he stood up, reaching down to help him stand up.

"Yeah, something like that." Kurama tucked his hands into the sleeves of his kimono and the two headed to where he had started to place some of the more important memories that he had. Finding the book that he wanted, he sat down with a sigh. "I wouldn't have gotten loose and you would have been a jinchuriki without a single person knowing this fact much further in your life. After you had learned to control the Uzumaki chakra that you inherited," he said, placing the book onto the table before them.

Naruto frowned as he sat down next to him, taking the book and stroking over the cover. It had the date of his birth on the front and the first picture was that of his mother surrounded by those who were to attend to his birth. "You remember all of this?" he asked.

Kurama nodded his head. "Yeah. I had calmed down by then, some of my insanity dying down so I could see what was going on. In a way that is. It's more of a chakra impression really so the colors can seem a bit odd in some places," he said, shaking his head with an amused snort. "Sarutobi-san's wife was in attendance, along with your father, three ANBU and two master sealers who were trained by Uzumaki's before they left," he continued, pointing to another picture with one finger.

"So what happened?" Naruto asked as he flipped through the pictures, finding that the pictures got blurry as they went along, as if something was going wrong and messing with Kurama's senses.

"That was about the time that someone in an orange mask with a single eye hole attacked us and killed the guards, Sarutobi-san's wife, and the sealers," Kurama said, pointing to one picture. "Right after you were born, the seal was weak and they had been working fast to shore it up enough to settle it back down. But the man somehow broke it fully and did it very easily. So easily that even I couldn't figure out what was going on." He sneered. "At least not until I was under his control once again and going after your village."

Naruto took a deep breath before she let it out slowly, the sound shuddering, placing his face down into his hands. "Fuck. Don't tell me it was that bastard who did that," he said, Kurama frowning.

"Now, I don't think it wasn't Madara. At least not him himself. I think that at that time the Madara that we are going after now was still healing from whatever it was that either brought him back or helped him extend his life," he said. He bit at his bottom lip in thought. "But still, the guy was a Uchiha and he only had one eye," he continued, flipping to a picture that had a red haze around the edge. The hair was brown and half of his face was disfigured from what I can remember. One eye was gone while the other blazed with the Mangekyo Sharingan that was already spinning."

"Just...just fuck my life," Naruto whined, dropping his head onto the table a few times, Kurama staring at him with a frown pulling at his lips.

"What? Do you know who this human is?" he asked, Naruto nodding as he dropped his head onto the table with another thud. "Who is he then? He is working with Madara and I'm guessing that he is an Uchiha."

"Yeah, fuck, I do and he's an Uchiha alright," Naruto sighed, shaking his head as he rubbed at his face. "His name is Uchiha Obito and Kakashi got his Sharingan eye from him," he continued. "This is not good. If he was the one who did this shit, then something big is going on."

"There is a possibility that he was being used by Madara as a kind of a puppet. I have discovered that with time and practice, a Sharingan user can literally put in a kind of a copy of themselves into a person's mind and from there control them," Kurama said. "It would take time to learn but with the fact that Madara had time, he could learn. And yes, it can happen because the Sage and his brother had it passed it on from their mother," he continued.

"Joy. I'm so not going to tell Kakashi any of this yet," Naruto finally said as he closed the book and pushed it over to his friend with a sigh. "At least not until we can find out what's really going on and if Obito is able to be saved. Or until we find out if he's been brought back by the Edo Tensei." Standing up, he shook his head. "Either way, we're going to bring him back. Dead or alive. I just don't want to tell Kakashi yet."

"No, it wouldn't be very healthy to tell him just yet would it?" Kurama asked. Naruto shook his head. "Then go on. Your young kit is wonder what is wrong with you. I can hear her make such little sounds."

"Hana-san is thinking that Yasu has some damage to her throat but she can't be to sure until she can get some x-rays done," Naruto said, standing with a sigh. "But he is sounding better."

"Such foxes are naturally soft in their voice until they get older," Kurama told him. Naruto smiled at him but still left his mental-scape with a sigh.

Opening his eyes, Naruto blinked to clear his vision before he smiled down at the small fox who was staring up at him, her ears pressed back against her head. "I'm fine, Yasu, I was just speaking with Kurama," he said, watching her ears perk up and tail wave slightly. "I promise," he said, scratching behind one perked ear, getting a happy chirr from her. "Come on, let's get you some dinner. It's been awhile since we've done anything with your training and we should fix that," he teased. He picked her up and allowed her to drape over his neck, a pink tongue lapping at his neck. "That's a good girl."

Sighing, Naruto left the meditation room, closing the door behind him, heading to the kitchen, finding Temari standing in there, making travel rations for her and Gaara for when they left with Kiba and Akamaru. Smiling, he nodded at her before he pulled out Yasu's lunch, warming the meat up just a bit the way that Hana had shown him, setting the dish down onto the ground.

As Yasu settled in to eat her food, making soft happy sounds at the venison meat, Naruto leant against the counter as she ate, sighing and thinking about what he was going to tell everyone. He barely paid attention when a snake slithered through a slightly opened window but did notice when it hacked up a letter, making him wrinkle his nose at the sound. He sighed when the snake just gave him a look and disappeared with a poof, glad that the slime that had come with the letter had disappeared with the snake.

Shaking his head, Naruto picked the letter up and sighed once again as he found out that at least one of the Akatsuki teams had indeed moved, but that Orochimaru would contact them with more information. He pouted and left the kitchen to send out notes to everyone who needed to know. Yasu licked her chops as she padded after him.

Temari just glared at the now licked clean bowl on the floor and muttered about people not cleaning up after themselves.


	47. Our Truth 50

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 50

Characters: Orochimaru, Naruto, Kabuto, Iruka, Tsunade, Kankuro,

Word count: 1,731

Warnings: nothing

AN: I almost didn't make this because my cold went from stuffed up and feeling like shit to coughing and in pain because of it. Ow.

Enjoy you guys. I'm writing words though! Much happy.

* * *

Staring over at Orochimaru, Naruto pursed his lips as Kankuro raised an eyebrow at him, Haku shaking his head. "Well then, it's rather different seeing you look like you now do," he finally said, getting a soft chuckle from the Snake Sannin.

"I can also tell you that it does feel weird being in this form again," Orochimaru admitted to him, Kabuto tilting his head before he shook it. "How are we getting to Tsunade-chan's home?" he asked.

Naruto smiled and pointed over at Haku. "We'll be going through a mirror that is connected to another that is waiting for us there. After he pulls it up and we go through, he'll follow after us and drop the mirrors so that no one can follow," he said. Orochimaru smiled slightly.

"You really do remind me of your parents," Orochimaru sighed as he shook his head. "Some things do come from nature and they apparently passed some of their rather vibrant happiness to you," he explained at the look that he was getting. "It is a good thing. It's something to carry with you."

"Yeah," Naruto hummed as he turned to Haku, getting a smile, and brought his hand up in front of him, a mirror forming behind him. "If we can all step through the mirror please," he drawled, stepping in and fading from view.

Kankuro shrugged with a slight smile. "His parents are kind of a sore point at the moment. We found out just what had gone on during his birth from Kurama-san. Since then he's been really thoughtful," he told the two men.

"I had wondered what it was that he had learned," Kabuto mused as Kankuro stepped into the mirror next, disappearing through it with a surprising ease. "How many times have they had to use your mirrors?" he asked Haku.

Haku simply smiled at them and said, "Much too often for their tastes. But it is the easiest way to get them from the house to the office building or to Tsunade-sama's home." He waved a hand towards the mirror. "Can you both please step through? It is annoying to have to keep up two mirrors, especially when Yasu keeps trying to get through the second one because she can smell the forest."

"Yasu? That is Naruto-san's new fox nin right?" Kabuto asked as he stepped forward. Haku nodded, the other man making a thoughtful sound as he stepped into the mirror, Orochimaru following after him quickly. Both of the men stepped into Tsunade's living room, stepping to the side. Naruto, Kankuro, Tsunade, and Iruka were all there, waiting for them. Haku stepped out behind them and dissolved the mirror once more, the water flowing into a canteen that was hanging on the wall.

Yasu yipped happily in greeting as she bounded up to Haku, wearing a little vest with the Konoha spiral on the back, her tail waving happily as she was picked up by the indulgent ice wielder. "Stop spoiling my partner," Naruto teased him good naturedly, laying out a plate of raw meat that was mostly solid, just well tenderized. Yasu barked as she wiggled in Haku's arms, sniffing in Orochimaru's direction, the Snake Sannin giving her a long look.

"Do not tell me that you're on a chakra high," Kabuto sighed as he reached out to scratch behind her ears. "You are. Naruto-san," he said, looking over at the blond who just snorted.

"It's normal enough for an animal partner to get high on chakra if they're not born into it," Naruto stated. "I did ask Hana-san and she said it's also because Yasu is still young," he continued. "She's hyper. Like I was at one time."

Orochimaru chuckled and wiggled his fingers at the nipping Yasu before he scratched her just right, watching as she melted under the touches. "She will make a good partner for you. She is a good match as of right now, but with training, perfect," he said, smiling as he stroked over her back. "Very soft and her summer coat is coming in perfectly."

Tsunade snickered as she moved to a tea tray that sat on a side table, shaking her head with a snort. "Yeah, that fox has everyone wrapped around her paw. And I swear that if your family wasn't so connected to snakes that you would have gone for the fox contract instead," she teased. Orochimaru smiled slightly as he took his seat, Kabuto sitting by his side.

"But I did end up going for a fox. Just not the animal kind," he said smoothly. Kabuto went bright red as he hid his face. Naruto and Haku burst into laughter while Iruka huffed and shook his head with an amused smile.

"I'm not the least bit surprised that you would say something like that," Iruka said as he reached back and squeezed the wrist that was connected to the hand on his ass. Jiraiya yelped as he was pulled around the lean body, smiling sheepishly at the dark look on the chunin's face. "My ass is not a resting place for your hand. Do you understand, Jiraiya-san?" he asked, his voice dangerous.

"Yep, not a problem. Not at all," Jiraiya said, swallowing as his wrist was let go, diving for the other spot next to Orochimaru. His old team mate gave him a smug smirk.

"You never did learn when not to grope a lovely behind, male or female, did you?" Orochimaru asked, Jiraiya pouting as Iruka blushed faintly and sat down. Naruto watched as Yasu jumped from Haku's arms when the other man had sat down and went for her food before turning to everyone there. "So I take it that Sasuke-kun has told you about the fact that at least two of the Akatsuki teams have moved, yes?" he asked.

Tsunade nodded, setting the tray down and Naruto moving to serve them, offering Orochimaru the second cup, she herself getting the first. "Yes. Is there more to it than what he knows?" she asked as she sweetened her tea with some honey. Naruto finally took his own seat, Jiraiya slumping down.

Orochimaru sighed as he nodded. "It does seem that they have started to change where they are every two weeks or so if they are meeting. They have been meeting off and on for the last few weeks, nearly every day truly, because of the change in plans. Something about their agents not being able to get into contact with their various spies within the village walls," he said, sending Kabuto a knowing look.

Kabuto simply sipped at his tea before giving them a nearly innocent smile that made Naruto and Iruka snicker at him.

"You need a bit more sweetness to make that look effective, Kabuto-kun," Iruka told him, both he and Naruto sending Kabuto one that screamed that butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Everyone there stared at them for a full minute, waiting to see if the smiles would crack before Jiraiya snorted.

"Do all of you desk chunin know how to do that?" he asked, shaking his head as the smiles were kicked up a notch.

"Of course, Ero-sennin. We have to have a great many skills after all, and acting as if you are innocent and unassuming is one of them," Naruto said. He sipped at his tea and looked up through his lashes coyly.

Jiraiya sat up ramrod straight and cleared his throat at that look, every sense picking up nothing but shy interest coming from Naruto. Orochimaru's eyebrows rose as Kabuto laughed softly into his own cup. Haku hummed and smiled sweetly, stroking over Yasu's fur when she took over his lap once more.

"Do you know where they are right now, Orochimaru-san?" Naruto asked, breaking the spell that he had easily created. Iruka smugly smiled next to him. "We are going to be planning for this for the next week, if not longer, so we have some time to travel to where they are."

Orochimaru snorted and elbowed the now pouting Jiraiya in the side as he stirred his own tea. "If you can wait two weeks, they will be in the same general area near Ame. You are going to need to go to Ame to get Madara and his personal...pet. Especially if you want to just knock the poor boy out. I think that his mind is quite a bit more twisted than my own ever was."

Iruka and Naruto traded looks. "We were afraid of that," Iruka admitted as he put his teacup down. "It's starting to look as if we're going to have to plan around that and the sensor."

"I think that those new seals that you found in your families archives should work well for her, Naruto," Tsunade said, thinking fast. "Do you think that you can make enough for all of us?" she asked.

Naruto sat back, thinking, before he nodded. "As long as I have at least three days off between now and the day that we leave, it won't be a problem. Those days have to be at the least two days before we leave since they do take chakra to make properly."

"Since it's Tuesday now, I'll make sure that you have Friday off this week, and then Tuesday and Friday off next week. And then you'll go back to your normal days off the week after," Iruka promised, Naruto nodding his head. "I'll also buy everything that you need as long as you can write down everything."

"I'll have that list ready by tomorrow," Naruto promised. "Tell us, Orochimaru, where shall they be in two weeks?" he asked, turning to the smiling Sannin as the man pulled out the map from his kimono top. Orochimaru spread it out over the coffee table and used the tea cups to weight the four corners down. The group leant over it, Naruto making notes to give to their missing career chunin.

They went over the details late into the night but they finally had a plan at least partially hashed out for what they would need to do. They made sure that they made the plans as flexible as possible for all possibilities that could come out as Orochimaru would continue to monitor the Akatsuki.


	48. Our Truth 51

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 51

Characters: Kankuro, Naruto

Word count: 1,417

Warnings: nothing

AN: Fluffy fluffiness! Yes, we are getting some fluff between Kankuro and Naruto so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Naruto sighed as he and Kankuro stepped into the house the next day, and closed the door behind them as Kankuro paused to pull his shoes off. "I could have sworn that your days aren't quite so tiring as today was," the puppet user whined, getting a soft chuckle from Naruto.

"After shadowing me for the last two weeks, how is it that you are surprised by this?" Naruto asked, heading for the kitchen. It felt as if Iruka wasn't there, Haku and Zabuza were most likely tailing after Izumo and Kotetsu for the day. "Do you want something to drink?" he called out as Kankuro went to put his puppet away, sliding his shoes off.

"Got any of that one tea that you made me last night?" Kankuro called back. Naruto smiled as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed the kettle from the drain board, filling it with fresh water. Putting it onto the stove, he let it start to heat while he pulled out the plum flavored tea that he had gotten Kankuro hooked on, along with the honey powder and his own mint that had a softer taste to it.

Humming almost mindlessly, his thoughts turned back to what Orochimaru had told them the night before. He had promised that it would take less than the two weeks to find all of the information that he could get his hands on since the Akatsuki were all heading towards Ame as it was. But things were going to end up being rather tense for the time being.

Sighing, he shook his head as Kankuro came into the kitchen, his face clean of the kabuki makeup and his cap removed, still wearing his body suit. Naruto smiled softly, seeing the resemblance to Gaara in the other's face as he sat with a sigh at the bar. "Tea about ready?" he asked as Naruto loaded two tea balls, putting them into their chosen cups.

"Not yet. The water hasn't gotten hot enough," Naruto stated, finding two long handled spoons and a saucer to put their tea balls onto once their teas had steeped. "I don't even know if I'm going to end up sleeping tonight, actually," he sighed as he checked the kettle. He smiled at finding that it was getting to where he wanted the heat to be.

"Why not?" Kankuro asked as he stood once more and moved to grab some snacks to enjoy before they started to make dinner. They still had some time and he knew that both of them had eaten on the run.

Naruto pursed his lips as he removed the whistling kettle from the stove and poured the water into their cups. "I keep thinking about what we're having to do next. And what we're going to end up doing. My mind is just running around in circles right now," he admitted. "I want to get it all over with but I don't want to have to do it at all. I became a career chunin to help keep the village safe in a better way. And unfortunately this one part of my job description comes up in a most spectacular way."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow at him before he sighed softly, putting the cookies that he had pulled out onto a plate. "Come here," he said, tugging Naruto into his arms once the other had put the kettle back down. He noticed that while the other man had a healthy diet and was rather tall, he was still shorter than himself, which meant that he tucked up against his body just right. Leaning back against the counter, he sighed and rested his chin on top of the blond locks, running his hand up and down his back. "It has to happen sometime. As I've been told often enough, we're nin. Our original purpose when we came to be was not big flashy jutsus but to be able to move unseen, keeping the world spinning."

"Yeah, and the career chunin of the world are the most unseen because we want it to be that way and need it that way," Naruto hummed. He buried his nose into the other's chest, his eyes closing with a smile. He could feel his body start to relax into the surprisingly firm body against his own, rubbing his nose into the soft cloth under his nose. "We work so hard to stay hidden and for this bullshit to happen is really not helping me. I know that Iruka and Izumo both have been hunting down any of the jounins who have been talking about us. And telling them to keep their damn mouths about what they found out. We've also been working to counteract any of the truer rumors out there."

"I've heard some of those. I'm guessing that they'll end up finding something new to talk about and you guys can go back to your hiding in plain sight thing," Kankuro mused. Naruto snorted and looked up at him with an amused look. "Don't worry, it's just a little longer. Some killing, a few talks, dragging people who need to come back, back, and then you can settle back into your regular life. Granted you'll have me living with you for the foreseeable future, but I'm doubting that'll be too much of a problem."

Naruto smirked at him. "No, not really. You're not as much of an asshole as you used to be," he teased, getting a snicker from the other man as he nodded. "That and you can bring some new techniques to the village just like Kiba-kun is going to end up doing with Suna. Though, how Akamaru will be able to withstand that heat I will never know," he mused.

Kankuro snorted at him. "I know that you've been inside of the village. It's not quite as bad as the outside of the walls, and with Jiraiya working to help lay those air flow seals along with the security seals, it'll be even better to a point," he said. He squeezed Naruto around his waist with a smile. "But for now, how about we have some cookies, drink some tea, and watch some movies while we veg out? I know that you need to relax," he suggested.

Naruto smiled as he nodded, pulling away from Kankuro's warmth with a pout as he went to finish making their teas. Kankuro smiled at him and took his own tea to make, finding some other snacky items to add to the cookies that he had pulled down. He decided that they would live on take out since it was just going to be them for most of the night and since it didn't happen often. Naruto was often the first one to get back since he didn't do a lot with the academy outside of filing things mostly, lucky enough to not have to grade anything.

Picking up their tea cups and the plates of snacks, they relocated into the living room and put everything down onto the table. While Kankuro set up their large, low sitting couch for the both of them to lounge on, Naruto found a movie that they both liked and put it on, taking his seat with a sigh. Settling next to him, Kankuro started the movie, both men making fun of some of the bad actions scenes, as most nins often did when it came to movies with fighting.

Halfway through the movie and as they nibbled on some cheese, Kankuro smirked, shifting to look down at Naruto and asked, "How about we go out on some actual dates when we can?" Naruto blinked several times up at him before blushing softly.

"Is that really any way to ask a person out?" he asked teasingly. Kankuro chuckled and wrapped his arm around his waist, pulling him close with a smirk.

"Not really, but I'm not hearing a no," Kankuro drawled, raising an eyebrow and getting a huff from the other man.

"No, it's not a no. I would love to go out on a date with you, Kankuro. Tomorrow, you can treat me to a nice evening out and then on my next day off, we'll do a day out when I'm not working on the seals," Naruto stated. Kankuro smiled broadly as he stretched his legs out before him and he crossed his ankles.

Things were looking decidedly up for him. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.


	49. Our Truth 52

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 52

Characters: Kankuro, Naruto, Iruka

Word count: 1,934

Warnings: nothing

AN: I was going to post this back on Friday but I wasn't do much of anything. I shopped, slept and dealt with a lovely sunburn on one shoulder. That still hurts.

Damn sun.

I'm also dealing with bites. Which is annoying but I'll live.

For now, enjoy all!

* * *

The days following their night together was spent with the two spending as much time together when they were off of work. Which wasn't nearly as much as they wanted since Naruto was having to do a lot of work. And the days that he did have off was still mostly spent on gathering the last of the information on the Akatsuki through a scroll much like what Kabuto had.

Or making seals while Kankuro practiced a few moves with his quieter puppets when he was free to do so, an ANBU watching over Naruto for him.

With the seals that Naruto was making, he had to make sure that they were done correctly, only really able to do a single layer at a time before he had to wait for the ink to set. And since each seal had several layers, he had taken to finishing off his internship papers and all the lovely paperwork that came with it. He had also started to go through the various papers that had been discovered in the public version of the Archives again.

Despite what the general population thought, the real Archives had everything that went on in the village while the public version just acted as nothing more than a way for the not so important information to be accessed. It was also where they had found most of the so called 'laws' that had been 'passed' by the idiots who had decided that they had the power to do so.

Not that they knew what the chunins were doing just yet. After all, they had made sure that it would look like they were just doing one aspect of their jobs: going through files and making sure that everything was in its proper place.

Sighing as he put aside some more pages of laws, Naruto slowly stretched his arms out over his head and looked at the calendar, wrinkling his nose. "Just four more days before start the mission," he said to himself. Standing up, he smoothed his house kimono down before he picked up his teapot. Iruka looked up from his own pile of laws and tilted his head.

"I'm sure that you're more than ready to get all of this done and over with," he teased, getting a soft groan as Naruto headed to the kitchen to make a fresh pot of tea. Checking his own teapot, Iruka huffed and stood to follow after his friend and student, pot in hand. "Please say that you have enough water in that kettle for two pots," he said as he walked into the kitchen.

Naruto absently nodded his head as he cleaned out the used tea leaves still in the pots strainer. "Yeah. I made sure that I filled it up the last time that I came in here," he said. Iruka hummed softly as he started to take his own pot apart. "Let me see your strainer."

Iruka put the lid to the side and lifted the strainer out, handing it over and letting Naruto clean it out before using a bit of water to rinse the pot out. "How was your date with Kankuro-san?" he asked. Naruto smiled sweetly as he blushed.

"It was good. This last time he took me out on a picnic when we could find a little time during my lunch," Naruto said, smiling softly as he rinsed out his tea pot. "He also took me to my favorite spot, remembering just where it was even though I only took him there once. And that was to get something that I had forgotten to get from up there the last time that I was able to visit." He shrugged and looked over to Iruka. "He's rather sweet when you get him all alone and don't have anyone watching him."

"It sounds like it. He's a really good cook too. Or at least for the simpler dishes that he's made for us. That curry was just the right side of spicy without killing my tastebuds," Iruka hummed, hunting down some snack options and laying them out onto plates. Naruto chuckled and nodded his head.

"Yeah, he's really good at that too," he hummed. Iruka looked over at him before smiling gently. Naruto stared at him as he started to blush, his eyes narrowing. "What?"

"You really do care deeply for him," Iruka said, getting a pout. Naruto turned away and added fresh tea leaves to each of the strainers of the teapots, putting them back into place and pouring the now hot water over them. "It's a good thing. It's nice that you were able to find someone who makes you happy and feel safe so young."

"Yeah, but in nin terms I'm an old bastard," Naruto huffed, shaking his head as he handed Iruka's teapot over and took the offered place. "And you're ancient."

"It is not my fault that our main station just happens to be behind a desk," Iruka huffed as they walked back to the living room. Naruto took his place at the coffee table while Iruka went back to his floor desk. "Have you found anything that can fully unravel all of the bullshit that we keep finding?" he asked as he looked over his various notes, absently pouring tea into a small cup with one hand.

Naruto sighed and waved a hand at the piles of paper before him. "I've pretty much been able to separate out what I found according to who put the law down, what it does, and who signed the thing. It looks like Danzo allowed his ego to cloud his judgement and signed a few things that would make it so that he could work even further underground without thinking about it."

"I'm kind of glad that no one really knows anything about how the Archives work. And that any Hokage prospects aren't allowed to learn until they've been sworn in and have proven that they're what a Hokage is to be," Iruka sighed. He stood and moved to sit near the other male, picking up the first pile that Naruto had made and reading over the notes. He smiled at the fact that Naruto had marked the start of each section with a post-it, making him shake his head with a chuckle.

Naruto nodded and went back to working on unsealing all of the copied files, going through them one by one and tossing out whatever knew was a part of the real Archives. The pages landed in a specialized trashcan that all career chunins knew how to make, the can flaring every so often as it was filled. He continued to make notes and put them into their proper spots while Iruka worked to create a full list of them for each of the council members and what they had done.

Iruka finally sighed and stood up from the table. "Fuck it. I'm getting my new laptop. Can you make sure that I have a plug to use please?" he asked. Naruto smiled and nodded as he stood up. Moving to one plug that had a protector on it, he moved the two lamp plugs on the line so that Iruka could plug in there. He also cleared off some of the table so that it could sit on the table, knowing that if Iruka was having to use it, there was a lot more information than they had thought.

It didn't take very long for Iruka to come out of his room and plug in the laptop, sitting it down on the cleared spot and booting it up. Taking his own seat, he put in the password and waited for it to finish loading. Once that was done, he opened a word file and password protected it before he started to set up a file, tapping the notes out. He had been working on using the computer to create a full file on what they were working on in regards to Danzo, and had gotten pretty good at typing on it.

Naruto sighed to himself and continued his own work, taking the files that Iruka had been working on separating out, having a clone help him go through the piles. Iruka sighed as he took in all of the piles as they came, the two working through all of them in a somewhat timely manner. Even if they did live off of tea and snacks.

Once all of the files had been shifted through and resealed into their scroll, Iruka groaned as he saved the rather long file and stood up, Naruto joining him with his own grunt. "I hate paperwork," the blond male groaned, rubbing at his neck and draining the last of his tea. "At least it's finally all done."

"Yeah. I'll print out this full report and we'll use the that special ink to do it, our wax to seal it too," Iruka sighed. He leant down slightly and closed the laptop, gathering the plates and teapots. "Let me put this in the kitchen. We'll go out for dinner I think."

"That sounds just perfect," Naruto sighed, smiling at Kankuro when he walked in, already smirking if not looking ruffled from his training.

"What sounds perfect? Giving me a kiss to welcome me back?" Kankuro asked as he pulled a squeaking Naruto into his arms to steal a kiss, leaving just a tiny bit of kabuki makeup behind.

Naruto snorted as he rubbed the makeup off of his lips with a huff. "What have I told you about kissing me in full makeup?" he teasingly asked.

"That as long as I have the wipes to take it off with me that I can do it all I want?" Kankuro teased in return. Iruka smiled and shook his head as he walked into the kitchen. Naruto just rolled his eyes and took the single makeup wipe that was offered from his lover and cleaned his lips. "Now what else sounds perfect?"

"Going out to get dinner instead of staying in and making it," Naruto stated before he summoned a small frog with a smile. "Can you go to my co-workers and tell them that we're all meeting at the usual place for dinner in about two hours time? Raidou and Izumo should be free for a late lunch break by then, so we'll grab the food and head back to the Tower."

"Not a problem," the small brown and gray frog said, smiling brightly as he took the bag of milk tea powder from Naruto, disappearing with a puff of smoke.

"I need a long shower and to change into something that's not a house kimono," Naruto said. He eyed Kankuro. "No kabuki makeup and no jumpsuit. Wear something semi-normal? It's supposed to get chilly tonight and I know that it's good in a desert, but this is going to be a bit more biting. That and I want to see you in your Suna jounin uniform," he drawled.

Kankuro leered at his boyfriend as they headed for their rooms and showers, knowing that he would do whatever Naruto wanted. Iruka snorted in the kitchen as he cleaned the dishes.

"Ahh, such young love," he drawled, Crow snorting from his spot where he had pressed up against Iruka's back. "Are you going to have time to visit me tonight?"

"Are the privacy seals up?" he asked, Iruka nodding. "Then yes, I'll be able to visit tonight," he said, watching as Iruka's reflection in the window smiled.


	50. Our Truth 53

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 53

Characters: Naruto, Genma, Raidou, Iruka, Gai, Zabuza, Anko, Orochimaru, Neji, Kankuro, Kotetsu, Izumo,

Word count: 1,851

Warnings: nothing

AN: Why didn't I post this on Monday? Because I have a jaw issue that knocked me down and out for a couple of days. I'm doing better. Slightly.

But I do have some other stories that are being hand written right now, so that's always nice. *nods*

I still hope that you enjoy it.

* * *

Sighing as he pressed a mass of doughy goo down into a high-sided cookie sheet, Naruto rolled his eyes and glared over at the bickering Genma and Raidou. "Will you two shut up please? We can not afford to change partners for this mission," he stated, shaking his head as the two tokubetsu pouted at him. "Raidou-kun needs to stay in the village with Haku-kun so they can act as our replacements while we're gone," he explained for the nth time.

"Naruto is right, you two. We can not afford to leave the Archives alone even for a few hours without someone being in the village," Iruka said as he stirred something in a pot. It smelled distinctly of vanilla and grapes, and he already had several small, round ball molds sitting nearby with funnels in them. "As it is, it did not help us in the least bit that some little bastard got into our ration and pill stores," he sighed as he picked up a bowl with a mix of powdered herbs and dumped them into the pot.

The scent turned minty.

"I'm _really_ not happy since it was my turn to replace the stuff that we used. I'm starting to think though that it was tampered with after we replaced all of those files since we really haven't been using a lot of chakra like that since," Naruto admitted as he placed the filled cookie sheet to the side. "And that was...what? Nearly six months ago?" Pulling the next cookie sheet over, he placed parchment paper onto it and laid out more of the doughy goo onto the sheet. "We're just lucky that the budget for these things aren't touched all that often and usually not in such a big way." He grunted as he started to press the goo into the pan, smoothing it out with his fingers.

"I"m still surprised that you are willing to make such items before us, Naruto-kun," Gai chirped, smiling brightly as Izumo snorted from where he was using an electric water kettle to make tea. Haku laid another card down onto a line of cards, playing rummy with Zabuza and Anko, Orochimaru watching everything with a bored expression. Neji had decided to take over the window seat of the dining room and was rubbing at his forehead. Kankuro sat in a chair nearby, a small fold out table holding the pieces of a new, smaller puppet that he was hoping to use. Genma snorted.

"Considering that these are specially designed for a chunin who works the archive when we have to use a lot of chakra, such as when we're having to make copies or replace reports, we're rather sure that you're not after the recipe," Kotetsu drawled. He shrugged one shoulder. "Though we can teach you on how to make those ration bars of yours taste better," he offered before smirking. "For a price."

Orochimaru looked away from the game as Gai eyed the young man with a frown, both men curious as to what the price would be.

"And that would be?" Gai asked after a few minutes, the others showing their own curiosity while Zabuza shuffled his cards around.

"You would have to sign a contract that you would tell no one about the recipe or how to make it stronger or weaker according to the person. You can't sell it without giving the Archive Chunin account half of your profits. And you give us some help on a few of our taijutsu stances," Iruka stated. "That's the general contract with the specified part for you yourself. Each person who wishes to learn the recipe has a different price that they need to fulfill but we give you the basic recipe to play with in return. It was the Akimichi who actually taught the first Desk Chunin when the Archive was first started and they joined us. From there, it took a few years to get it to the point where it is now."

"We all know the base formula though and we just have to adjust according to the person and their power levels. The recipe is then adjusted every six months to a year depending on the person. I myself have three formulas that I'll use depending on how I'm doing and what I'm doing," Naruto admitted as he finished the first batch. Picking up two of the four cookie trays, he moved to slid them into the oven. With that done, he moved to start another batch with different measurements of the ingredients.

Raidou nodded. "Most of us have two different formula's to our names since we do go out on missions, so we need one at least two," he said, shrugging with a smile. "One is much higher in calories while the other is geared more towards hunger and feeding our chakra without going overboard on a rather passive use of it," he continued.

"Fascinating," Orochimaru said, his eyes glowing with his curiosity. Kabuto huffed as he walked in, carrying two bags that had been filled with sealing scrolls, each one jam packed full of the ingredients that the two were using to replace everything.

"Orochimaru-sama, please do calm yourself," he teased lightly as he placed the bags onto the table and smiled at his lover with an indulgent look. He turned to Iruka and Naruto, eyes sweeping over the rest of the group who were quickly becoming friends. He took the offered tea cup with a smile from Izumo, nodding his head. "I was able to get the last of the items from the messenger nin. He had arrived just in time," he said.

"Thank you for going to get them, Kabuto-kun," Naruto said as he smiled softly at him. He pulled the first sealing scroll open and unsealed the items, moving them onto a free counter and arranging him. "So, are we really all ready to do this?" he asked as he did that.

"As ready as we can be going up against these asses," Genma said, shrugging one shoulder as he chewed absently on his senbon with a frown on his lips. "Outside of the food and the pills that Iruka there is making, we've pretty much planned out when and how to attack each of the teams. Along with who is going where and what is going to happen," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"Tsunade wasn't able to come?" Orochimaru asked as he looked out of the window, Izumo shaking his head with a huff.

"Nah. She had to do some housekeeping with Ibiki-san and Yamanaka-san, if you know what I mean. She was not really happy when she caught her latest secretary taking pictures of paperwork and shoving some shit that shouldn't be on her desk in amongst all of the important stuff," Izumo told him.

"It just means that she's having to work on cleaning out the various sections of the Hokage Tower, starting with the secretarial pool. We've discovered that Ibiki-san is usually scary enough to make them talk. And if they don't, Inoichi-san and Shikaku-san added does it," Iruka said. Orochimaru turned to watch as Iruka poured the liquid that he had been stirring into the molds, being careful to get just the right amount into each bubble and not lose any.

"Well, it _was_ going to happen, but this just pushed it up. The bitch worked for the so called 'council' apparently," Naruto said as he swapped out the trays in the oven, setting the hot ones on racks. He consulted a sheet and started to measure out what he needed for the next batch. "It just means that we have to take out Danzo and his people tonight on top of that. Orochimaru, I need to ask you. Do you mind playing a battery? Jiraiya and Tsunade are helping me," he said, looking over at the Snake Sannin.

"Are you doing the seals then?" he asked, Naruto nodding his head. "Very well. I do not mind doing this. Do we have any backups for this?" he asked.

"Myself, Kankuro-san, and Haku-san are all acting as secondary batteries but with Naruto-san acting as the main focal point of the seal, it is doubtful that we will be needed," Kabuto replied.

"Anko-chan, you've been quiet since we got here. What's up?" Kotetsu asked the woman as he looked over at her. She hummed as she played with a kunai.

"It's just odd to see the man who had been my _sensei_ returned the way he has been. Especially after all of the fuckery that went down," she said slowly. Orochimaru tilted his head in understanding at her words. Kabuto just smiled softly and patted her shoulder as he walked past her, sitting down next to the man. "It's very strange."

"I promise that you'll get used to it," Naruto said as he started on the next batch of bars, the ingredients geared towards his higher caloric ones. The ingredients were chopped, crushed, pureed, or powdered in batches and added to a bowl before he pulled out the vitamin pills turned powder that went into each of the bars. "Believe me, you will," he promised smiling slightly at her. Kankuro chuckled as he put the last part of his newest puppet together before he started to test each part with a chakra string.

"Don't worry about it, Anko, just enjoy it. For now, I'm thinking that we're ready," he said, testing the quills that sat on the back of the porcupine like puppet.

Tugging on the chakra string, he smiled as puffs of air smoothly escaped from the hollow tubes. Naruto beamed happily at his lover as the man stood up with puppet in hand and walked over to him. Wrapping an arm around around his waist, Kankuro stole a kiss before stealing a nut and walking out of the kitchen, dodging the spoon aimed at his head.

"I need to figure a few more things out though. I'm gonna head to my room to relax before tonight," he called out.

Naruto huffed and blushed as most of the room just chuckled at how cute they were. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Orochimaru, I expect you and lazy ass over there," he said, pointing to Jiraiya as the man walked into the dining room, yawning, "to be at the Hokage's Tower at the basement door at nine. Tonight. We're all in for a long night. Make sure that you eat one of those bars that we gave you. It'll help you give a boost for this."

"I will be there on time," Orochimaru snorted, standing up with Kabuto. The two left and most pulled a face, knowing just what they were headed out to do.

Anko wrinkled her nose at a sudden thought before saying, "Ewwww, parental sex with the brother. Fuck. Where's the brain bleach?" Naruto just shook his head as she complained about having a fucked up thought process.


	51. Our Truth 54

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 54

Characters: Jiraiya, Naruto, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Kankuro, Haku, Kabuto

Word count: 1,949

Warnings: just mentions of death

AN: Wow. So we're just moving right along aren't we? Yes, yes we are.

To note, and I shall be reminding you guys for the next two weeks, I will be normal in posting schedule. This means that 55 will be posted on the 23ed, 56 on the 26th, and the 57 on the 30th. But! In July it will b week posting due to it being Camp Nanowrimo and I'll be BUSY.

What am I writing this round? I'm going to finish the side story to Whisper to Me so I can work on Whisper to Me arc 2 along with a few other stories. This side story is called Breathe Unto Me and it's going to pull in Devil May Cry. I'm trying to finish it off so I can post it after the upcoming Avengers/Kuroshitsuji story that I'm editing right now.

The other one is a Inoichi/Genma/Naruto three-some chapter story. It's just going to be filler but I need the buffer that the coming three chapter stories are going to give me to finish off a couple of longer chapter stories.

So I will remind you that Camp NaNo is coming up over the next couple of weeks!

For now, enjoy.

* * *

Walking down into the basement, Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at the fact that Naruto was already laying down a few seals onto the floor with silver ink that glittered under the candle flames. There looked to be no electrical lights, only the candles that sat in candelabras with wide bases to catch the wax to be removed later. Tilting his head, he looked about the room as Jiraiya closed the door behind them, Haku already stepping lightly around the edge of the giant seal that sat on the floor.

"Damn, but you guys have turned this into a thing of beauty," Jiraiya whistled, shaking his head. He looked over the various seals that he could tell were the base seals that were never moved, taking in the silver seals that Naruto was finishing.

Naruto smirked at him. "The first two head Archive Chunins in the village were both Uzumaki straight from Uzushio, and they were able to create the base of all of the seals that we use. When we join, fuinjutsu is one the first things that we all learn. Since they left behind so many seals that go in depth and are closed against anyone who isn't keyed into them, it's not likely that anyone knows about this. Much less can use it like we're about to," he said as he stood up, watching as the seals flare once before settling into a matte silver color. He smiled. "Okay, Orochimaru-san, you need to stand here," he said, pointing to a seal that had the symbol of Water on it.

"Water. Earth. Sky," Tsunade said as she looked over the three seals where they would be standing. "All connecting to the final one, Spirit." She looked up at the smiling Naruto.

"Seals come easy for all of us Uzumaki, a fourth or not. All bodies are made up of air, which is represented by the Sky seal. Flesh and bone and muscle is the Earth seal. Water is, of course, the Water Seal. It all comes together so that it can house the Spirit." He shrugged. "I always thought that seals are ingrained into the Uzumaki blood and I think you just proved it there."

"I sometimes wonder if your father could have had Uzumaki blood in him," Orochimaru mused as Kabuto moved to take his place on the secondary Water seal. "It could be plausible with just how easy he found fuinjutsu to be," he said.

"I think that there are some of his skin and blood samples saved in a specialized vault," Tsunade said, shrugging one shoulder. "I'll run some tests," she promised Naruto.

Naruto pointed to the Earth seal next. "Jiraiya, Kankuro, the two of you here. Tsunade, Haku, you're on water. Please remember to keep your chakra flow low and easy. I need to be able to meld it properly and anything less than low and easy will end up being problematic," he said, putting the paint away into a small alcove that stood out of the way.

Closing the alcove, he smoothed down the black shirt that he was wearing, checking the sleeves to make sure that they sat over his fingerless gloves correctly. He kicked off his geta that he had worn for the moment and stepped into seal covered slipper shoes instead. He then opened another alcove and picked up the seal covered robe that sat in it, pulling it on. He sighed softly as he felt his chakra respond and weave itself into the fabric and around the seals that were woven into it.

"That's very interesting," Haku hummed as Naruto pulled out another bowl from the same alcove that had a black block in the bottom of it. He picked up a water bottle and poured enough onto the block to create a thick ink, mixing it with the brush that he had to dig around for. He put the water away and turned to the group.

Walking first to Tsunade, he raised an eyebrow at her and got a huff from the woman before she pulled off her pants and shirt, leaving her in a pair of short shorts and a sports bra. The others followed her example, pulling off their own clothes, leaving them in their own rather short shorts as Naruto started to paint on her seals with a careful touch. When he finished with her, he moved onto the next person, doing the same thing to each person, making sure that the seals were correctly placed and painted.

"Okay, so my job is to pretty much 'watch', in as much as I can, while we're doing this mission. It'll be more of a chakra impression that is given form, so after all of this is done, I'm going to be knocked out for a while. Kankuro, I'm going to need you to watch over me at home for a few hours after that. Make sure that I'm not hunted down in my weakness," Naruto explained as he put the bowl and brush away.

The three Sannin stepped onto the seals while Haku, Kabuto, and Kankuro stepped onto the secondary seals behind them. Naruto walked into the middle of the main seal and sat down with a sigh, arranging his robe properly before he laid his hands onto two circles, feeding his chakra into them. The others copied his movements, keeping the feed of their chakra low and easy as he asked.

Naruto let out a very slow breath and started to meld the chakra into what he needed it to be, feeding it into each line that was connected to his body and robes with care. He gasped when he dropped into a special room of his mental-scape that he had long created for this very purpose. His eyes watched as the chakra reached out and hunted for those who had seals placed upon them.

He found the Hyuuga branch members easily and made a note to see about where they had gotten that seal, the taste vaguely like a Uzumaki prison seal, before he moved away from them.

He quickly found Danzo's touch on hundreds of hidden nin, less so on Sai himself, and reached out with his chakra created hand, touching and connecting them all to him. He reached out with his chakra created hand, touching it and sending a pulse of power into the seals. He smiled at the fact that he could 'see' everyone drop, knocked out with that one pulse just as he felt the brush of Iruka's, Raidou's, Genma's, and Ibiki's chakra, along with several ANBU members pass by one of the ROOT members.

"They're starting to raid the building now," Naruto said, knowing that he had spoken out loud in his physical body when the chakra coming to him was filled with understanding. Shifting and sliding along the lines of the village's very base, he followed them along until he could find Danzo. He frowned several times as he saw something that was off with his chakra, reaching out and touching one of the odd points.

His hiss was so much like one of Orochimaru's snakes when they were pissed off that he could do nothing but feel amusement at that sound, but also worry about what could have caused Naruto to make a sound like that.

" _Uchiha_ _eyes_. The bastard somehow got fucking Uchiha eyes. And I'm not even sure it is the eyes, but they're small and have Uchiha power. After so fucking long working with the bastard, I found out that the Sharingan has a kind of a tainting effect on their chakra," he growled, nearly hissing once more. "And he has more than one of them. He has _dozens_."

He started to use his connection to the very chakra system of the village to attack the now foreign chakra, muting it, making it so that it couldn't flow any more without backlash from the user. He couldn't help in any other way, but it hurt the bastard.

"I'm going to be out of it for longer than a few hours, Kankuro," he warned, already feeling the strain that came with molding chakra that wasn't his own and using the seals. "Make sure that someone goes and buys a lot of high caloric and high protein foods for me please? I'm going to be out of it for a day at least."

Taking in a slow, deep breath, he started to pull back when he felt that the raiding team were about to burst into Danzo's office, pulling out faster when he felt the gather chakra of all of them. He still grunted, working to keep his concentration as the flare of chakra became blinding bursts of power. Shuddering at the feeling of Danzo's chakra signature being muted, shut off from his very being, he pulled out of his mental-scape and slumped, panting.

He groaned as he broke the connection to the chakra and laid down, carefully, before his body gave out entirely. "Well, they were able to do something," Naruto groaned, blinking blurrily when Tsunade started to run her hands over him. "Gonna be fine. Just out of it," he reminded them.

Tsunade smiled softly when Kankuro came over to them and gently pulled the robe off of Naruto, letting Haku take it and put it back onto into the alcove that it had been in. "You're right, but let this old woman worry about the only son that she'll ever have, yes?" she asked.

Naruto snorted softly at her. "Surrogates are great things," he slurred before he fell into the darkness that was tugging at him, missing the thoughtful look on Tsunade's face.

"Now why didn't I ever think of that?" she huffed, shaking her head as Jiraiya stood with Orochimaru, both men stretching out the slow kinks that they had gotten for sitting for so long. For all the fact that it had taken them less than an hour from start to finish, they still felt the fact that they had been sitting on hard concrete and they weren't that young.

"Because you look at your age, not remembering that there is this little thing known as artificial insemination and other ways to grow a baby beyond the old fashioned way," Jiraiya snorted, shaking his head.

"I have a few other ways," Orochimaru said, smiling at his friend and patting her shoulder as they watched Kankuro carefully gather his partner and stood up with a smile. "It is much like growing a clone, but it takes your fertilized egg instead of just some of your DNA," he promised, getting a bright smile from her.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind if me and B want that," she promised. "For now, how about we head into the house, shower off, and then we can go get food for Naruto here. Like he said, he's going to need a lot of it," she said, the five males nodding.

"I'm gonna take him on home and use his shower I think," Kankuro told them, handing Naruto over to Jiraiya so he could pull on his own clothes, taking the limp man back with a nod. "I'll leave the back door unlocked but the seals on. You guys know how to get in right?" he asked, Tsunade nodding. "Good. I'll see ya later."

Leaving the basement room and then up the stairs, he kept to the shadows, smiling down at his partner and filled with awe at just how wonderful and strong the man was. He was proud to stand next to Naruto as he forged his own path.


	52. Our Truth 56

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 56

Characters: Itachi, Naruto, Kisame, Kankuro

Word count: 1,852

Warnings: nothing really

AN: Hello all of my lovely readers! I am here early this morning to tell you that come tomorrow, July Camp National Novel Writing Month shall be starting. What does this mean for you?

You're only getting chapters 57 to 61 next month. That is one chapter a week since I'm going to be so damn busy writing up Breath Unto Me.

And if you're a reader of the world I started in Whisper, that story is a side story to the main Whisper world introducing Devil May Cry to the main line. This way I can start working on Whisper and getting it ready to go. Breath Unto Me is going to be 27 chapters long and will come after A Rip In Time, which is coming after this story.

As for my usual Wednesday posting: that shall happen on Friday's instead for the month of July.

So, watch and wait and enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Landing on a sturdy branch, Naruto stared at the cave that he and Kankuro were supposed to meet with Kisame and Itachi, frowning slightly and tilting his head back, sniffing slightly. "They're here," he mused as he slid off of the branch to land on the ground with no sound.

Kankuro huffed and shifted the sealing scroll that sat on his hip, moving it out of the way. "Let's go talk with them then. See what's up and then see if they're all willing to head on back to the village," he said, looking to his lover. "We still have ta go meet up with everyone else yet."

"Yeah, but luckily we still have a day before we have to be there," Naruto sighed as he shoved a bit of his hair back under his bandana. His blue eyes danced over the cave entrance as he thought. He had decided that he should wear some basic nin gear: loose pants with the bottoms held down with slightly stretchy black bandages, a short sleeved shirt with a longer sleeved mesh shirt under that, a thinner version of his chunin vest, normal sandals and his weapons pouches.

What wasn't normal was the seals that he had inked onto the protective bandages around his hands and fingers that were connected to a much larger, stationary seal at home.

The small seals on his hands and the seal at home was a Uzumaki special, one of the few scrolls that his mother had been able to get from Uzu, and it had taken him as long as he had been a desk chunin to learn how to lay it just right.

Within the larger seal were smaller seals that held various weapons, food supplies, clothes with new seals on them if they were needed, and first aid supplies at his beck and call. Kankuro had his own seal that was much smaller than his own, but they both knew that if Naruto was down and couldn't use his own, Kankuro's was stocked with more weapons and even more first aid gear.

Dropping down onto the ledge, they walked into the cave, both men rolling their shoulders at the feeling of the genjutsu that rolled over them. "I swear that Itachi is just way too good with those damn genjutsus," Naruto grumped. He shook his head, pouting at his amused lover. He ran his eyes over his lover, making sure his lover's outfit, much like his own, was fine, he wrinkled his nose. "It's really odd to see you in such a serious outfit," he said.

Kankuro smirked at him. "Don't worry about it. After all this, I'll be back in my usual look," he promised. He nudged Naruto slightly before nodding to the path that was lit up with glowing painted spots. "Let's go get this meeting over with. I don't want to hear Anko growl at us and we do need to get some sleep before we leave."

"Yeah, I know," Naruto sighed, walking along the path of the cave, coming out to a large inner cave that had been turned into a home of a kind. A wood burning stove sat against one wall, the metal chimney leading the smoke up and out of the cave. Several sealing scrolls sat in a crate near it, each one clearly marked with what is in them. A rather large, thick futon sat behind a curtain that looked to wrap around the stove to provide warmth to the sudo-bedroom.

Kisame and Itachi were already sitting at a low table on floor pillows, two more waiting for them. Tea was being poured while Naruto and Kankuro eyed the two men as they took their seats.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Itachi greeted, Naruto nodding his head at him. "We haven't been able to gather the rest of the jinchuriki's just yet. It seems that they have gone underground," he said, eyeing Naruto as the man gave him a sweet smile and took a tea cup.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Itachi-san. After all, I'm just a simple desk chunin," Naruto said, adding a bit of simple syrup. Kisame snickered. "Kisame-san, how are you? Staying under the radar?" he asked.

"As much as I can with my looks," Kisame drawled, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "What is it that your hokage wanted to talk with us about?" he asked. Kankuro smirked as he reached into a pocket on his flak jacket, pulling out a slim scroll and handing it over to Itachi.

The Uchiha frowned at it but opened the scroll, raising an eyebrow at the neat script that flowed over the page. Kisame leant over his shoulder, giving it a curious look.

"What's up?" he asked.

Itachi huffed at him. "It seems that I am being recalled. My mission to send information on the Akatsuki has been ended for the moment. I am to see if you wish to come back with me as a 'prisoner' for a short time while the last of the agreements between Konoha and Kiri's new Mizukage is worked out. It seems as if the Mizukage wishes to fix what her predecessor messed up so badly," he said as he shook his head.

"Who's the new Mizukage?" Kisame asked. He looked over to Kankuro and Naruto, ignoring that they were testing their teas before actually drinking them.

"From what I know and am allowed to tell you, her name is Terumi Mei. She's one of the few people in the world to have two kekkei genkai and can use them quite well," Naruto said. One of Itachi's eyebrows rose as black eyes swung to his lover.

"Mei-chan was able to become the fifth Mizukage? Well fuck," Kisame snorted. He shook his head as he smirked at the ceiling. "She was getting to be kinda hot before we all had to ditch the village."

"You are very lucky that I know that I control your dick," Itachi stated after staring at Kisame for a few long moments. Naruto snickered into his tea cup as Kisame pouted at the Uchiha before huffing.

"Yeah, but that's because I like your ass so much," Kisame leered. Kankuro smirked to himself, thinking that he could get to like the shark like man before him. Naruto shook his head with a groan.

Naruto put his cup down and pushed it forward slightly. "I hope you don't think you're staying with me," he said, shaking his head. "Dealing with Genma when he's in a mood is bad enough since he likes to come bug the shit out of me whenever he can. Dealing with a shark who thinks with his dick is a whole 'nother level that I don't want to mess with."

Itachi looked over at him with a small smile tugging at his lips. "You were able to claim and open your family home?" he asked. Naruto nodded his head, unsurprised that the other man knew about his family history. Itachi had been young the night of the Kyuubi attack, but he still had been an ANBU at one time. What was odd that he had been able to keep Naruto's heritage a secret even from the rest of the Akatsuki.

"Hey, Itachi. Tell me, how were you able to keep quiet about who I am?" Naruto asked as he poured more tea into his tea cup. Kisame stood up and moved over to the stove, Naruto watching as the man knelt down. He finally registered that the two men were in simple pants, shirts, and mesh undershirts, the red cloud cloaks nowhere to be seen.

Itachi smiled slightly at the question. "There is a seal upon my left hip. I hid it by a tattoo that I recieved before I was ordered to take out those Uchiha who were a part of the coup," he said, shrugging one shoulder. "It stops any kind of information about certain things from being dragged out of me. It is not like the seal that the desk chunins often use, but it is a Uzumaki specialty. Your mother had taught Ibiki-san and Kakashi-san about this particular seal for the ANBU who wanted it."

"We'll have to sit down and talk about those seals, when we can," Naruto said, Itachi nodding his head as he finished his own tea. "For the moment, what you need to do is head on to Konoha to see Tsunade-baa-chan. You have about a week to arrive. You won't be attacked but you'll probably end up sealed, so just don't try to fight."

"Of course not," Itachi said. Kankuro smirked and pointed over at Kisame, getting a pouting look from the man, knowing what he was saying without a single word. "I will make sure that I control him," he said. The two lovers smirked and nodded.

"Good. We don't want him to go and piss off Tsunade. She's already pissed off about all of this," Naruto said, shaking his head as Kisame groaned. "Once you have been cleared for seals and all of that good shit, both of you will be placed on a trial period where basic information will be 'leaked' out into the public about the massacre. You'll be living with Sasuke on the Uchiha estate, which is going to be fully cleaned out and rebuilt. About half of the land is set to be used for new housing and to help to rebuild the police force. Which Sasuke is thinking about taking over as the Shinobi contractor," he said.

"I can accept all of that," Itachi promised before he stood. "I believe that you have time before you must leave for your next part yes?" he asked. Kankuro nodded as Naruto yawned. "The futon there is a new one. Take it and rest. We shall awaken you in a few hours to eat and get ready to leave," he said.

Naruto smiled slightly and stood up with his lover. "Thank you, Itachi. Kisame," Naruto said, bowing to the two lovers and getting bows in return. "It has been nothing but busy for the last few days," he chuckled.

"This I can understand," Itachi said. He waved the two to the futon as Kisame pulled the curtain closed and plunged the area into a slight darkness. It was just closed enough so that it trapped a good chunk of the heat from the fire around the futon but still allowed heat out into the main area. Itachi came around the curtain with a candle, setting it down next to the futon before he disappeared back around the curtain again. Sharing a look with his lover, the two pulled off their weapons pouches and seals, placing them near where they would be sleeping before shucking their shoes.

Laying down and burying under the blankets, it didn't take the couple long to fall asleep to the sound of the crackling fire and the muffled sound of turning pages.


	53. Our Truth 57

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 57

Characters: Neji, Kotetsu

Word count: 1,693

Warnings: death via seals

AN: We're working our way through our targets. Fun times.

Really.

* * *

Looking over at his partner for their assignment, Neji nodded his head and jumped down to land on a boulder, just over the snake that watched them with black eyes. She hissed before she slithered off. She had been one of Orochimaru's summons and had been there to mark where it was best, and safest, to land.

Kotetsu followed after him and landed next to him, giving him a smirk and a knowing look. The chunin pulled out a sealing scroll, laying it out onto the ground, Neji using Konoha's specialized hand language so that they didn't tip anyone off. _Ready?_ he asked.

Kotetsu waved one hand in a movement to ask for a moment before he started to unseal the parts to the traps that would be laid out around the various exits. He laid them out on the ground, putting the pieces together as needed. Once he was done with them, Kotetsu handed Neji his sets before he nodded his head to where the black and red snake was watching them.

Nodding his head, Neji followed after the summons to each of the safe spots, noticing that they were skirting the tags and various statues that had been made to look like rocks and fake nature scenes. He could just barely feel chakra in each of the statues though and he had no doubt that if they were tripped just right, they would explode.

Mentally reviewing the information that he had on the duo, Deidara and Sasori, he wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the explosions were made to be big. And that all of the statues and nature scenes were interconnected to all go off.

Landing on a rock, he knelt down and started to lay his half of the traps, watching as Kotetsu followed a different path to get him to another entrance. Ignoring him for the moment, he bit at his bottom lip and mentally recited what they had been told about the two nin that they were after.

Deidara was a missing nin from Iwagakure, and was well known to say, and annoy people with, his motto "Art is a bang!". To most it was much more annoying than Naruto with his 'dattebayo' verbal tic. He also had a kekkei genkai called the Bakuton, or Explosion Release. From what they knew, only those who could mix Earth and Lightning chakra together could do it and usually only those who came from Iwagakure.

He had also apparently stolen Iwagakure's well protected kinjutsu, a technique that gave him mouths on his hands that could chew the clay that he used, molding his chakra into the clay.

It was what made him even more dangerous after he left Iwagakure. Especially since he was just a single point shy of certifiably insane, and was unpredictable in a fight.

Thus why Neji had him as a target. Using the seals that Naruto had supplied them, he was to shut down his tenketsu and hopefully kill him in the process. Hopefully without setting off any of the damn statues that were laid out around the land.

Kotetsu on the other hand would be going after the man known as Akasuna no Sasori. The red headed man was something of a dangerous legend among certain circles. Due to this it had been decided that Kotetsu would be going after him since Genma wasn't able to be there. Gaara had been nice enough to have information sent about him after he and Deidara had tried to capture the young Kazekage nearly a year before.

To learn that he had been a loyal shinobi of Suna had been a surprise for all of them. To also learn that he had been working on turning his very body into a puppet had made all of them wonder just what was going on in his head.

As far as they knew, the guy was a full puppet and the only living part of him was in his chest, they decided that someone with senbon knowledge would go best against him. He mused that it was a good thing that Kotetsu had trained with Genma in assassination with senbon before he had settled into the life of a desk chunin.

Looking down at the now hissing snake, Neji laid the last of the traps before nodding, standing to follow after the black and red serpent. She hissed softly, the sound of the pitches that he and Kotetsu had learned to listen for, telling him when he would need to hop up onto walls and crawl like a spider for the rest of the way.

' _Why me?_ ' he mentally whined, pulling on a set of thin, protective gloves before hopping onto the wall carefully. He crawled along it carefully, taking his time. He paused only once to pin his braid up and out of the way before he continued on his way, finding Kotetsu waiting for him. A senbon that was thinner than normal was tucked up into the corner of his mouth. ' _What is he? The second coming of Genma?_ ' he wondered.

 _Ready?_ Neji signed. Kotetsu nodded before he bounced over to the opposite wall, pointing to one of the doors that sat at the end of the long hallway. Neji nodded, continuing on his way, his eyes narrowed as he focused on keeping his chakra hidden even more than what the seal around his wrist provided him. Coming to perch over the doorway, he shifted enough to watch Kotetsu work his way over to another door, pulling out a seal.

Trading looks with each other, they pressed the seals to the tops of the doors and fed a bit of chakra to them, watching as they flared. They waited, wondering if the two men would come out suddenly and attack them. When there wasn't any movement after the first two minutes, the two shared another look before nodding.

Neji carefully twisted his body around before he used his grip on the wall to move so that he could plant his feet on one side of the door. He eyed the clay that sat around the doorway. ' _This guy is paranoid_ ,' he moaned, shaking his head before he pushed the door open carefully.

He smirked at finding that Deidara was indeed dead, as promised, and jumped down into the room, being careful of where he landed. A small sand snake slithered out of his weapons pouch, most likely hissing insults at having to travel in such a way as it slithered to the floor. It took a moment to explore but found the right path to the body. Walking up to him, he activated his Byakugan and found that Deidara had just enough chakra to jump start his heart.

"Damn paranoid bastards," he muttered. He closed all the points around the heart and the spot of fake skin and muscles, then jabbing two more spots that were hard to hit on a moving human.

Watching as the chakra died, cut off from the rest of the bodies natural flow and with nowhere to go, Neji checked Deidara's pulse before he nodded. He pulled off the specialized sealing scroll that he had brought, unrolling it enough to seal Deidara away. "You know that we've lost our way when something like this comes easier to us than a damn battlefield," he sighed. Rolling up the scroll, he gathered the small summons at his feet, tucking it into his pouch again, before taking to the walls.

He crawled over to Sasori's room and raised an eyebrow at finding Kotetsu growling as he wiped his cheek. He didn't look to be hurt by any of the man's poisons, but he did have a few nicks that looked to be kunai misses. Sasori on the other hand had apparently attached chakra strings to his own damn body and ended up with senbon in all of his joints and a cluster in his heart.

"Fucker had a backup just in case his heart stopped. Luckily the asshole hadn't had time to create new poisons to tip the damn things with," Kotetsu grunted. "And he _almost_ got away with restarting his heart. But I think he was more puppet and had three spots on his body with chakra to restart it," he said.

"We'll have to tell Naruto about that later on then," Neji mused. "He wasn't sure as to how the seal would react with a mostly puppet body." Kotetsu nodded as he removed the cylinder that was all that was physically left of Sasori out of the puppet. He sealed the body and the cylinder into two different scrolls. "We need to return Sasori's body and...bits to Suna after we get back, right?" he asked.

Kotetsu nodded as he rolled the scroll up. "Naruto and Kankuro are actually going to travel to Suna to give them the full report. At least after they have had a few days to rest. Gaara understands that we're taking care of it."

"Indeed." Sighing, he smiled at the small green snake that was curled around Kotetsu's ankle like a living anklet. "Let's get going. We need to send a check in and still write our reports when we get home. And I have no urge to be found with this asshole's body on me," he said, Kotetsu snickering softly.

"If you behave, Hyuuga-chan, me and 'Zumo will show you a good time," Kotetsu drawled. He watched as Neji blushed and followed him when he jumped onto the wall to leave the cave system. Once they had dismantled their own traps, they found the edge of the statues and tripped one, letting them take out the hidden base for them. With a shared look, the two nin left the rubble and headed on home.

Neji had a feeling that somehow, someway, he had been passed on by death when someone not himself had made a very different decision for him. He decided that he would take up Kotetsu on that offer before he started to look for a serious relationship. One that wasn't just a one night stand or a fuck buddy.


	54. Our Truth 58

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 58

Characters: Izumo, Kabuto

Word count: 1,710

Warnings: Just some killing

AN: Yeah, I'm working on things. I really am. It's so much fun. I swear. *rolls eyes*

I'm working on a series of Wattpad stories for Halloween Month (aka October!). For those who are curious, you can look up "Just a Little Murder" or look for my name SLStrailo on there. You'll find me.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Do you want to go over who we're after one last time?" Izumo asked as he checked over his supplies, sounding rather off. He had a very sharp, rather long style of katana on him along with the usual nin supplies that he had tucked away on his person that he was double checking while Kabuto stood next to him. He had his supply seals embroidered on the inside of one sleeve.

Kabuto just gave him a knowing look as he pulled out an energy bar. "We are to go after the duo named Zonbi Konbi team of Hidan and Kakuzu. They are very hard to defeat for most but luckily in my time in being able to get to them, I learned a few things," he said. He opened the bar and bit into it, finding that energy started to come back to him after he had swallowed. And he was promised no nasty side effects. "Kakuzu comes from Takigakure, and like all of the members of the Akatsuki is a missing nin. The last time that I checked, he was in his nineties and had seen the rise of Konohagakure. He's actually gone up against the Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama."

"I take it that that fight didn't go down as he had expected," Izumo drawled as he placed his katana tilted slightly along his back.

Kabuto smirked at him. "From what I learned, his ass was handed to him and then some. Unfortunately for him, his village hated his failure and showed it, causing him to come to hate his village with a fervor that not even Orochimaru-sama at his most insane could ever have reached before." He shook his head as he ate another bite. "I do not know what exactly had gone down but he ran off with the hearts of the Elders and became a missing nin. He joined with Akatsuki, killed four partners during the following years, and then was partnered with Hidan. He had taken all of their hearts too."

"What did he do with those hearts that he took?" Izumo asked, Kabuto giving him an odd look, making him roll his eyes. "I can only think that him taking all of those hearts was for a reason. And thus the reason why it is you who is going after him."

"You would be correct in that thought. He uses them in his Jiongu, or Earth Grudge. The ability is a village secret, meaning that the fact that we have lightening seals to help disrupt their nervous systems will help us. Especially since both of them are so overpowered," Kabuto said, staring at the seals that he had before tucking them away. Izumo smirked and nodded as he tucked his own seals into a better spot. "Anyways, he has four masks on his back that need to be destroyed along with his hearts. That is where the ice seals come in for me. Do remind me to buy Haku-san something pretty for adding his chakra to the seals."

"You and me both. Tell me about my supposedly immortal target, Hidan," Izumo requested as he rolled his wire up, tucking away each piece once he was happy with them.

"He is the reason why you're going to be using six of those lightning seals with two water seals, and why you're going to have to stay on the walls once you chop his head off. And why your entire outfit had to be covered in protective seals," Kabuto stated, pointing to the hidden seals. "He's a Jashinist…" He stopped talking when Izumo groaned.

"Ah, fuck, he's the immortal asshole that came from them, isn't he?" he muttered, shaking his head as he stood up. "We learned a few things from some captured Jashinists. At least those who haven't gotten very far in their final training. Which fucks with how those bastards perceive pleasure and pain. In the last few years, since Yugakure went tourist trap instead of actual Military village, we've been told that we're all gonna die by the one who had been touched by Jashin and there was nothing that we can do about it. You should have just told me that in the first place."

"Does this mean that you wouldn't have been as curious as to why you needed such specialty items for this job?" Kabuto asked, getting a dark look from Izumo before he rolled his eyes. "At least now you know. Let us go. Sansuka is waiting for us," he said, spotting a long black mamba that was slithering towards them. "She has found the right path for us to take," he continued when she nodded. He listened to the soft hisses for a few moments. "And they are in their rooms. It seems as if Hidan is meditating currently while Kakuzu is doing something with coins. I don't know how to translate that hiss," he said, shrugging.

"I don't think I really want to know what that guy is doing with his coins. we're going to raid their shit though, right?" Izumo asked, Kabuto smirking at him, nodding as they took to following after the rapidly slithering snake. Kabuto was lead to his entrance first, allowing him to lay down his traps. A few lightening tags wrapped around the wires that criss crossed in such a way that no one would be able to get past it without knowing the inlaid entrance and exit point.

Sliding through the hole, he noticed that Izumo had already done the same with his own entrance before they headed into the darkness. Kabuto took to the ceiling while his partner did the same thing, taking their routes to their targets rooms. Finding the room that he wanted, he shared a look with his partner down the hall, nodding and starting to lay the seals down in the correct formation.

The one reason that they could use the mix of seals that they were using was because they had trained to lay them correctly so that they could create a bigger, more powerful seal. That seal would do everything that they needed it to do in a split second and keep doing it every other second.

They had both seen the effects of what their seals could do to a training dummy that was created to act like a human body. It hadn't been a pretty sight but all Naruto had done was blush at the praise of having learned so much of his clan's fuinjutsu and perfecting it so well.

Looking up, Izumo nodded to Kabuto, the man nodding in return before they fed just enough chakra into the seals to activate them. The screams that came from the rooms were loud and harsh before they cut off, a thud coming from Kakuzu's room signaling that he had been at least standing up right.

Letting out a slow breath, Izumo carefully slid down the wall and pushed the door open before he slipped into the room, still clinging to the walls of the room. He found Hidan sitting on a mat near a wooden table, the floor around him covered in a thin layer of water that crackled with lightning. Walking further into the room, going along the ceiling until he stood over the table near his target, dropping down onto the table, noting that purple eyes were wide and staring at him. Even as another shock stopped him from moving and killing him, again, his eyes were filled with killing intent.

"Sorry, dude, but we can't have you idiots coming after our favorite little desk chunin. You and Danzo just happened to really push our buttons by trying for the Archives," he hummed, pulling the katana free of its sheath. With a clean swipe of it, Hidan's head was removed from his body, making Izumo sigh and wipe off his face with a scowl at the spray of blood. "Fucking decapitations always spritz me with blood. Every. Fucking. Time."

Wiping off his katana, he replaced it into its sheath before he pulled out the separate sealing scrolls for both head and body, laying them out. He took a slow breath, fed chakra to the seals on his clothes and waited for them to harden before he reached out, grabbing the head by his hair, holding him tightly. He grunted when Hidan started to cuss at him, trying to jerk in his grip, pulling out the gift that Kotetsu had given him when they had left.

"Fucking thank you, 'Su," he snickered as he set Hidan's head down, holding it in place as he shoved the ball gag into his mouth and buckled it around his head. Shaking his head, he sealed Hidan's head away before he pulled his body out of the water and sealing it away next. Once he had tucked the scrolls away, he carefully jumped onto the wall again and moved to remove the seals, tucking the slightly crispy papers away before heading to Kakuzu's room.

He smirked at finding the other man using a scalpel to remove four animal masks from the back of Kakuzu and sealing them away. Gloved hands started to pull out the now charred and rock hard frozen hears from his body. "Are you done now?" Kabuto asked as he finished his work, pulling off the gloves after he had sealed the slowly unraveling body into another scroll.

"Yep. I had to gag him with Kotetsu's present to me though, which sucks. It was a top of the line ball gag that he promised that I could use on him later," Izumo pouted. Kabuto blushed very slightly at that.

He may have had a lover like Orochimaru but that didn't mean that they had had much time to explore beyond some very needed rough sex and quickies since the first time. "Let's raid this place and then we can destroy it," he said, Izumo smirking.

"That I can do," Izumo chuckled. An hour later found them with all that they needed to collect and the hideout destroyed as they headed back to their home. Their village.

Kabuto smiled at the thought of being at Home. Finally after so long.


	55. Our Truth 59

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 59

Characters: Jiraiya, Crow, Iruka, Konan, Nagato,

Word count: 1,706

Warnings: we talk thing sto death

AN: I _thought_ I had posted this last week.

Apparently not! I'm sorry about that you guys. The last two weeks have not been happy making in regards to things.

*sighs* I'm going back to my normal schedule starting now.

Enjoy.

* * *

Taking a slow, deep breath as they waited for Iruka's signal telling them that he was in place, Jiraiya shifted on his perch, frowning as Crow stood next to him. "This will work out, Jiraiya-san. You just have to bullshit him, like Naruto-san said," Crow said, waving the letter that Naruto had sent them. Kankuro had landed wrong on an ankle and made it so that the two had to just head straight to Madara and his people to deal with them after a quick stop to heal the twist.

Jiraiya sighed at that before nodding his head. "Yeah, I know. I still can't believe that it's come down to this," he said, looking over to the masked man. He could feel the understanding gaze coming from under the mask. "Looks like his companion is coming around," he said, nodding to a small green and yellow toad that was hopping over the bushes. "Let's get going," he said as the toad disappeared in a puff of smoke. Taking in another deep breath, he jumped down onto the ground. Crow followed after him as they headed into the cave that contained his last two students.

They were unsurprised when they came across Konan already standing before them, looking ready to attack and defend the emaciated Nagato, the man just glaring at them.

"Yeah, he's _seriously_ pissed off at ya, Jiraiya," Crow snorted as several wires shot out to wrap around Konan. They dragged her up and off of the ground into a kind of a spider's web that Iruka was standing on, the wires covered in chakra sucking seals.

"That thing isn't dangerous is it?" Jiraiya asked. Iruka smirked at him and shook his head. "I want to beat some brains into these two, not kill them after all."

"Don't worry, it's not going to kill her. As long as I'm alive and able to control the wires, she will be just fine," Iruka said as he wiggled his fingers. She bounced slightly. Jiraiya noticed that the wires wrapped around his fingers didn't cut into the knuckle length gloves that he wore and that they were done so in a rather complicated pattern. "A warning, if I am dead, the chakra that I am feeding into some the wires themselves with the help of a seal will end up cutting off. They will then relax just enough to drop her to the ground to go splat. If you two are attacked, she will fall to the ground and the idiot who has tried to go for you will end up dead. Pretty much, she is being held, Nagato-san, to make sure that you do not do anything stupid."

"We can, and will, kill you if you don't listen and don't try to understand what we are saying. You see, you went after one of your own clansmen under Madara's hold. And that kind of idiocy tends to piss off our desk chunin. A lot. They're quite scary as you can see," Crow said, smirking at the man who narrowed his one visible eye.

"Very well. I will listen to what you have to say, but do not think that I will just allow you to kill me," he said. Iruka snorted above him and shifted his fingers so that Konan lowered slightly until she could see one of the seals that had been laid on the wall.

"We're fucked. So fucked," she squeaked. The words were something that rarely came from her and only when she well and truly believed that they were dead if they did something wrong. Nagato looked up and saw that there was indeed several seals lining all along the walls, all three of the men watching the dawning understanding spread over his face at figuring out what they were.

"You have a Uzumaki who knows the royal seals?" he asked, his hands curling where they rested, eyes turning to the somber looking Jiraiya.

"Yes, he's my apprentice," Jiraiya smirked. "Or rather he was since he moved on with his life on a different path than what he started out with. He became a desk chunin and became the hidden power of the Village Hidden in the Leaves," he chuckled. "Became Iruka's replacement when the guy decides to leave behind all of that shit." He shook his head, smiling slightly. "What happened to you two, Nagato? What made you so damn bitter that you decided to listen to a crackpot like Uchiha Madara?"

Nagato narrowed his eyes and shifted, making his body relax slightly. "You left us. After three years of being there for us, you left us behind to do whatever it was that you were doing," he stated, hissing slightly when Jiraiya sighed and shook his head with a frown.

"I had to head back to Konohagakure to check in. It was a part of the contract that I signed with my sensei and my Hokage. I was able to leave all I wanted and stay away from the village to keep my spy network working as long as I went back every few years," Jiraiya said, rubbing at his face. "I was all set to head back after I finished with the check in. Whatever happened to my note that I left? I know that we said goodbye and all, but I did leave a note that told you guys what my hopeful timeline was," he said. He frowned as Konan and Nagato shared a look, Konan shrugging as much as she could.

"It is possible that one of Hanzo's men were able to find that note before they did," Iruka mused, Crow nodding.

"One of the first things that we do learn in ANBU is that we are to steal whatever we can to use to our advantage. It sounds as if Hanzo was out to hurt you in any way possible and he did so by driving your students into attacking him if what I remember from those case files is right," he said, pursing his lips behind his mask. He shrugged one shoulder.

"It sounds like something that bastard would do," Konan sighed. She shook her head as she frowned, shifting slightly in her bindings, finding that Iruka was allowing her some space to be comfortable.

Nagato sighed, going limp, and nodded his head in agreement. "It does seem as if we were indeed played for fools by Hanzo and the one who played us was Uchiha Madara," he said. He shook his head as he rubbed at his face, amazed that he had been so blinded and fooled.

"You were young, all of you were. And I...was an idiot in not explaining just what I was planning on doing and what I was thinking at the time. By the time that I could get back to ya, you three were already gone and doing things. And then Yahiko had died, and the two of you disappeared after that…" Jiraiya trailed off. He ruffled his hair. "Naruto called me several unpleasant names when he learned of that. The nicest was idiot buffoon for not trying harder to find you three. There is a reason why he sent me here to talk to you guys instead of taking out Madara and trying to save Obito."

"Obito? Uchiha Obito?" Konan asked, twisting her head slightly so she could look down at Jiraiya, getting a nod from the other man. "I remember that Itachi-san spoke of a cousin named Obito who wasn't considered a 'proper' Uchiha, and how he had respected him from what little he could remember of the man."

"Yeah, that would be him," Crow drawled, shrugging with a hidden roll of his eyes. "He used to be Hatake Kakashi's teammate before some nasty shit went down. Including Madara apparently doing some work on him."

"He now has a Zetsu in half of his body," Nagato said after a moment of thinking. "I can not walk normally. Konan is able to help me, but the fight against Hanzo did damage to my legs to a point of making it hard to walk," he admitted.

Konan shifted a bit more in her bindings. "I take it that you know all of this though. At least by that look on your face, Jiraiya-san," she said.

"Tsunade-chan is waiting back at the village for a full check up on you, Nagato. She wants you to use whatever way you can to get your happy ass back to the village and then minimal chakra usage for the next two days," Jiraiya chuckled, shifting on his feet.

Nagato gave him a wary, almost hurt look. "Are you going to come back with us?" he asked. Jiraiya's look shifted, softening as he nodded.

"Yeah, all three of us are going to head out with you two I think. So we just need to pack things up and get ready to leave. I'm sure that you want to meet your fellow Uzumaki after all. Though it might be a few days before you can meet him."

"Why is that?" Konan asked as Iruka gently lowered the both of them down to the ground. His fingers twitched as he pulled the wires together and started to wrap them into their protective cases.

"He's on the team that will be taking out Madara and Obito. As of right now he's heading to meet the rest with his lover. After that, they'll be stopping for a day or so and just sleep once he gets back home. Not to mention get real happy with said lover," Jiraiya leered.

Nagato sighed and shook his head. "I would love to be able to have a lover once more," he said, shaking his head as Konan blushed softly. She moved to help him into the chakra driven setup that helped his legs move so that he could move when he needed to. Iruka and Crow snickered softly at the look and had no doubt whatsoever that once he could be a lover with stamina and ability that Konan was going to put him to work.

Not that he would complain much.


	56. Our Truth 60

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 60

Characters: Naruto, Anko, Iruka, Crow, Obito, Madara,

Word count: 1,819

Warnings: Nothing really just death

AN: I am tired but I am getting this up on time. And after this...only 5 more chapters! *cries* Oh yeah, I am on time for once. :D

I hope you enjoy all!

* * *

Arriving at the cave, Naruto found Anko and Iruka waiting for them nearby but out of the way with the prisoner scrolls. Landing next to them, he sighed and looked between the two. "How did your targets go?" he asked Iruka, tilting his head to the side as he raised an eyebrow at the other man.

Iraka smiled and shrugged one shoulder. "It went well enough. Jiraiya is with Nagato-san and Konan-san leading the way back home while Crow is working to set up the seals on the outside here. Orochimaru sent us a snake to warn us that apparently Madara has had to tie himself to a demonic statue once more. He was going to die of old age and leave Obito alone, but for some reason the cells that he had added to himself decided to kick start into high gear. It gave him another fifteen years of life to get things going for his next resurrection. But the last three years or so he's been tied to the Demonic Statue again."

Naruto sighed as Anko started to bounce next to him, ready to get down to it. "Do calm down, Anko. I just need you and Crow to distract Obito long enough for me to slap the damn seal on him so we can get him home. I'm hoping that we can fix whatever happened to him," he sighed, giving the woman a long look, raising an eyebrow at her pout.

"Aww, but…" She pouted at the narrowed eyes she got from Naruto before she sighed and crossed her arms under her breasts, pushing them up as she pouted. Naruto shuddered at the sight before looking over at Iruka, getting an amused look from him. "Fine. Fine. I'll behave and do what needs to be done."

Naruto just huffed and shook his head with an amused smirk on his face before the turned back to Anko, shifting his weapon pouches on his body. "Are you ready? Have all your weapons on you and what not?" he asked Iruka, getting a yes from him.

Anko sighed, understanding the hint, and doubled checked her own supplies, wrinkling her nose at the fact that she had been shoved into such basic clothes. She had been handed a pair of black tights that gave her a good range of motion with a three-quarter sleeve shirt and a black stretch skirt that looked more like a large belt than an actual skirt. She wore a pair of normal black nin sandals to top it all off.

She hadn't liked the fact that they had to dress in the way they were but could understand with the fact that everything had seals that connected to a smaller seal for supplies.

"Yeah, I'm good too. Let's get this shit over with," she sighed when Crow dropped down next to her. "Me and Crow here will head on in, take care of the younger Uchiha long enough for you and Iruka here to take care of the old man," she said. Crow shifted on his feet with a tilt of his head. Rolling her shoulders, she nodded at Crow while Iruka and Naruto walked up to the edge of the cliff that they were on.

"Crow, all of them are ready now?" Naruto asked, Crow nodding. "Good. You have the secondary trigger seal?" Once again, Crow nodded. "Great. Let's do this." Anko smirked and dropped down with Crow following after her, the two rushing into the cave system and heading to where they could feel the stronger of the two chakra points.

She made a happy sound as she threw several kunai at the man who was ready for them, coming at them with a scowl twisting his scarred face. They were both unsurprised when he faded out, allowing the kunai to pass through him, and split, taking to the walls as they threw more kunai, making sure to collect what had landed as they passed.

They both noted when Naruto slipped into the room on the ceiling while they worked to keep Obito's attention firmly on them, wiping blood off of his kunai before he tucked it away, watching them with narrow eyes. Anko cackled and jumped at the man, knowing that it was time to finish things while Crow shifted to get ready to tug her out of the way while Naruto finished it off. She smirked when she went through the man, as planned, twisting to turn, sliding on her feet as Naruto appeared behind the turning Obito. One long fingered hand shot out as Obito solidified, slamming a seal onto his neck the moment he was fully tangible.

Obito's voice seemed to be two different voices as he screeched the moment the seal landed on his neck, before it tapered off into a groan as he fell to the ground. Poking him with a foot, Anko found him knocked out and twitching. "Well, that was kind of anticlimactic," Anko huffed, pouting unhappily at the fact that her fun had been taken away from her.

Naruto just chuckled at her as Iruka strolled into the room, tucking away the scroll that held the now destroyed Demonic statue, and the other scroll that Madara's head was sealed into. He smiled slightly while he watched the scars on Obito's face started to smooth out a bit, reaching out a hand and stroking over them, feeling how they softened. Iruka and Crow came to stand next to him, both of them frowning slightly as they watched what he was watching. He knew that they were integrating finally with Obito's body without issue.

"What's happening with him?" Crow asked as he looked up to Anko, watching her walk around and finish gathering the used kunai.

"It seems as if the Zetsu is being absorbed by Obito-kun actually," Iruka mused, pulling off his gloves and gently prodding at the scars with green glowing fingers. "It feels as if whatever happened to him as been trying to stabilize off and on over the years. It was probably stunted by Madara's use of the Demonic Statue when he was working on him," he said, standing and stretching with a groan. "The question that we have to ask now, is he stable enough to take back to the village in a scroll? Or do we need to carry him?" he asked.

Naruto hummed and knelt fully next to Obito as he pulled off his own gloves. Anko handed Crow his half of the weaponry as they watched the blond check over the man. It took a few minutes and Naruto using whatever medical information that he had picked up being close to Tsunade and having Shizune as a part time teacher along with his own studies. "He can't be sealed. Not right now at the least," he finally said as he shook his head.

"I take it that he's not quite stable enough to be under any seal but yours right?" Anko asked. Naruto nodded and stood, tugging on his gloves. "Alrighty then. Crow, can you carry him?" she asked, turning to the ANBU.

Crow hummed and pulled out one of the specialized pills that Naruto had made for him, finding that they indeed had less side effects after he had tested one before their mission. Lifting his mask up slightly, he ate the pill and pulled out a ration bar, eating it as Naruto pulled out a small storage scroll. A body sling for Crow to wear that would help him carry Obito unsealed. "Yeah, not a problem," he said as he pulled his mask back down.

Nodding, Anko helped him put the sling on before Iruka and Naruto maneuvered Obito into it, making sure that he was firmly within it and that the sling was comfortable for both of them. Once that was done, Obito was nearly curled up against Crow's back, tucked a lot like a child, even if he was an adult.

Iruka sighed as he shook his head. "Okay, let's get out of here. I want to go home and finish all of this. The amount of paperwork that we're going to have to do as it is will be ridiculous," he sighed. "And I have no doubt that Tsunade will want to check on his growth, see how much this fucked him up health wise. Though if you look at him, he's barely pushing five feet ten, just slightly taller then you, Naruto," he said.

Anko groaned at the thought of the paperwork as they worked to raid the rooms in the cave system for any and all scrolls. Naruto doing most of the sealing of the papers using his main seal to send them back home. Crow stayed back and waited with Obito. Once the three were done, it didn't take them very long to leave and head towards home as the system was caved in.

Naruto paused on a tree branch, watching the cave system fall, Iruka standing on it next to him and chuckling softly. "Who knew that being a nin would actually work so well?" he asked, shaking his head. "Being sneaky, and vicious, and doing what people think that only the Hunters and ANBU of the villages do has helped us to fully stop a threat before it gained any more traction in the world."

Iruka nodded with a smile as he hugged him around his waist. "We're the hidden kunai, Naruto. Sometimes, we just need to remember where we came from," he said. Naruto hummed before he smiled. "Come on. I know that your boy toy is waiting for you to get home."

Naruto snickered as he turned away from the scene that they had been watching, rolling his eyes as he got ready to jump again. "Yeah, you're right. Let's head on home. I want ta kick the lot of you bastards out of my house and get laid all over it finally," he teased.

Iruka groaned at him and shook his head. "I do _not_ want to know about that! Don't fuck on the dining room table please. We do still do team nights together around it," he said. Naruto smirked as he jumped, starting to bounce from limb to limb, Iruka quickly following after him. "Naruto!"

"Come on, Iruka-kun! I'm sure that Crow wants to get his hands on you. Again. Or maybe Gai will finally grow a pair and show you the Power of Youth with his hips," Naruto teased over one shoulder, smirking at the glazed eyes of his friend and fellow chunin.

"Damn it all, Naruto! Don't be giving me those thoughts while I'm still on a mission," Iruka whined as they caught up to Crow and Anko, both of them staring at the two but ignoring them for the most part. They really didn't want to know what they were talking about.


	57. Our Truth 61

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 61

Characters: Sasuke, Tsunade, Kankuro, Naruto

Word count: 1842

Warnings: nothing really

AN: Almost, _almost_ , forgot to post this. Why? Because I went up to Wal-Mart at 2 in the morning and got my shopping done. Yeah. Slept about 6 hours then got up and finished off a side story to Just a Little Murder (found on Wattpad and AO3 if you want to read it). I'm debating on if this story will land in my Halloween Specials or not.

But I am doing a Bits and Pieces Naruto Halloween Special for the month of October. Starting 4th, every Wed will be a new Horror Bits and Pieces. I hope you will enjoy them with me. I'm even posting one on Halloween (which lands on a tuesday but that's fine since that Wed starts NaNo and I'm going to be busy). So that'll be 5, count 'em _5_ , new Bits and Pieces Naruto story.

Got a pairing you want me to torture?

Tell me.

For now! Enjoy!

* * *

Sitting on the couch in Tsunade's living room, Sasuke carefully crossed his legs as his lip pursed, watching the woman across from him smirk over her tea cup with a small summoned bumblebee buzzing happily under her other hand. He knew that the fuzzy bee came from Killer B and was there to bring back a letter from her when the meeting was over with, and not there to be annoying.

Shifting in the seat, he sighed and rested his chin on his hand, gazing her boredly. "So, what are you after?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I want to know this: what are your plans now that Madara has been taken care of and Obito is currently being cuddled into sanity by Kakashi?" Tsunade asked. She raised an eyebrow at him.

Sasuke stopped moving before he shook his head. "I really don't want to know what Kakashi is doing to my cousin," he finally said, Tsunade smirking at that, opening her mouth. He was quick to stop that. "Well, as long as I can, I was thinking of coming back as a vassal family to the Uzumaki-Namikaze clans for a few generations," he told her. "Which means that my great-grandchildren, or great-great-grandchildren can reclaim the clan status for us on their own, but still with a treaty and connection to Naruto's clan."

"Have you already talked with Naruto about this?" Tsunade asked. She raised an eyebrow when he nodded his head and pulled out a scroll, handing it over.

"I caught him when he was getting home and finally got him to look over it yesterday while he was relaxing with Kankuro-san since they were given time off," Sasuke said, shrugging. "It is based off of what other temporary vassal clans had done with other politically powerful clans," he continued as he sat back, watching her unroll it.

She found that the scroll contained the agreement that stated that both clans would help each other as long as there was someone alive and able to. Should one clan be dangerously close to dying out, they would try in some way try to help them populate the clan again, including offering up those who were willing to become a wife or husband. That person would have to be strong in all ways: physically, emotionally, mentally and in chakra.

The clans would also stay true to the village that held the Namikaze and Uzumaki side of the two clans. Which meant that so long as Naruto's family stayed in Konohagakure, so would the Uchiha Clan. It was simple and would work to sooth the ruffled feathers of the civilians while keeping all the power to the two clans. Especially since most of the population didn't know about Madara and how he had been able to control Kurama all those years before.

Rolling up the scroll and wrapping it with the ribbon, she nodded in approval. "Grab Naruto sometime tomorrow and come by the office. I'll send out word about you coming back and that Itachi is finally coming back from his long term spy mission with his partner from Kumo," she stated. She handed over the scroll and got a nod.

"I can do that," Sasuke assured her as he stood from the chair. "If you will excuse me, I have to see just how bad the houses on my land are so I can start planning on what we are to do to clean things up. I'm thinking that we may have to fix them all up, including the Police Force building," he said. Tsunade raised an eyebrow, getting a soft snort. "Yes, I will send you all of the information that we compile. Promise," he said before he bowed and left the house much to Tsunade's amusement.

As Tsunade moved to write a letter to her boyfriend and future partner, Killer B, Naruto was working on shoving the last of the laundry into the washer. He had been catching up on the chores of the household and Kankuro had taken over doing the folding and bathrooms for him.

"I am so very happy to have our home back," Naruto sighed as he shoved the last pillowcase into the washer. Adding laundry soap to the actual wash, he put softener into the softener ball and dropped it into the machine.

Kankuro chuckled and dropped his cap into the wash, much to his lover's amusement before closing the top of the washer for him. "Our home, huh?" he asked teasingly. Blue eyes rolled as he set the washer to a deep cleaning cycle and carrying the wet bedding out to the outdoor lines to dry there, the washer drying what couldn't be hung up. "We have nearly ninety minutes before we have to deal with the load in the dryer. What are we going to do now?" he asked.

"I was figuring that you could work on your puppets since you didn't really get to use your new one for our mission," he said, smiling up at his lover. "And while you were doing that, I would clean out the cabinets for things that are going back to their owners so I have room again."

Kankuro chuckled as he put the last of the towels away. "I did get to use it since we ran across some traps, but only for a short time. It did work out well," he said, following Naruto out of the laundry room and into the kitchen. He smiled as he watched the way Naruto's hips and ass twitched just so with each step.

"Have you fixed and cleaned your babies? I know that you've been wanting to do a full cleaning routine with all of them," Naruto hummed, moving to the first cabinet, finding the sealing scroll that went with it. "I would say I would jump you but I want more than a quicky and another shower right now. At the very least, Haku and Zabuza have happily moved into the guest house. It seems that Haku is happy to finally have a place to make a home. Especially since now they don't have to worry about a safe haven. They've even talked about opening an actual account," he said.

Kankuro chuckled at his lover and grabbed his wrapped puppet that he had leaning against the breakfast nook wall. Moving it to lay on the breakfast table, he smiled when Naruto simply handed over the bag that held Kankuro's cleaning supplies for his puppets. Sitting down, he pulled out a cloth and laid it out before pulling out the various supplies, unwrapping the smallish puppet. While he did that, Naruto returned to the cabinets and started to find all of the scrolls before shifting through the various foods and teas, separating them out according to who it was going to go to.

As Naruto finished with that project, moving things around to his happiness, Kankuro smirked and watched as the blond piled the scrolls into a small basket and turned to finish off the dishes. "Are you almost done there?" he asked, fitting a limb back into place.

"I am," Naruto replied, looking over his shoulder. "Finishing up with your puppet there?" he asked, putting a plate into the drain and moving on to the next dish after he got a yes. "Heads up, Sasuke might be coming by before he goes to check out the Uchiha estate so that we can look over the vassal treaty," he warned, finishing with the dishes and turning off the faucet, grabbing a dish towel to dry his hands. "I still have to finish off my report from our mission since we damn near slept all day when we got back, and since yesterday was spent moving everyone out of our home and back into their own."

"You are really liking the fact that you have your house to yourself now," Kankuro teased, Naruto huffed and flicking water at him from his hand before he finished drying them. "You want me to make you some snacks?" he asked as he watched Naruto shift through the refrigerator.

"No, not right now. I need to feed Yasu some of that rabbit she caught and I figured I would make some of those mini burgers that you liked so much from the leftover ground meat from last night," Naruto said. He pulled out two sealed baggies of meat. One was carefully labeled as rabbit while the other was beef. "Does that sound good to you?" he asked.

Kankuro smirked as he nodded his head, rewrapping the finished puppet and unsealing Crow, starting to pull it apart. "That sounds perfect," he said as he laid out the torso and laid them down on the table with a smile. Picking up the front part, he picked up a cleaning cloth, rearranging the fine bristled brushes and cleaning oils so that they were closer. "Gonna use some of those tomatoes?" he asked, eyeing the small tomatoes. "Pickles maybe too?"

Naruto chuckled and nodded his head, putting the meat onto the counter before he walked over to his lover, stealing a slow kiss. "Once we're done eating and we finish up with the laundry, we'll head to bed. I've been wanting to play but we've been so tired or writing on our reports since we got back that there hasn't been any time," he said, voice promising what he wasn't saying.

Kankuro smirked up at him and reached around his lover's waist, squeezing his ass with a leer. "I can get behind that," he chuckled, Naruto pulling away when a knock on the front door came.

"You can get behind me any time, but right now, it'll be later," Naruto promised as he headed to answer the door. Kankuro groaned at the tease but went back to cleaning and checking over each part of Crow. He raised an eyebrow at Sasuke when Naruto lead him in, Yasu bouncing around at the Uchiha's feet with a rather fat bird in her mouth.

Naruto simply shook his head and laid out the stained bath towel that wasn't much good beyond future rags and laying out when Yasu caught food. The small fox got down to plucking and eating her dinner with happy growls as Naruto put the rabbit meat away. Kankuro just shook his head and acted as the witness to the signing of the vassal treaty between the Uzumaki-Namikaze clans and the Uchiha clan even as he continued to clean his puppet. Naruto smiled at his lover for it, and turned back to making dinner, Sasuke not really looking forward to heading home. Not just yet.

Especially since he had to deal with Itachi and Kisame in the same small house that was liveable.

Fucking.

For the nth time since they got home.

When Kankuro asked why and Sasuke complained about it, Naruto cackled at him and told him to rebuild the two their own home first and put silencing seals all over it.


	58. Our Truth 62

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 62

Characters: Kisame, Itachi, Sasuke

Word count: 2231

Warnings: some language (this is kisame people, that man would cuss when comfortable), some flirting, some talk of questionable stains

AN: It is like scary early in the morning and I've only taken a nap. Yeah, sleep ain't happening so I decided to post this. Enjoy.

* * *

Grunting as he shoved the latest batch of trash into the incinerator on the property, Sasuke sighed, ruffling his hair with one hand before he grasped the large rolling can and hauled it back to the door. He was working on cleaning out the houses, his chosen own mostly cleared of out of everything, including the insects within, but he wanted to have another house cleaned before he started work on the main house.

He knew that there was a few leaks that needed to be fixed, but otherwise Naruto had been nice enough to make sure most upkeep was kept up.

Grunting as he left the building that held the incinerator, he walked back to the house he was working on and into the living room where he had been working on the bookshelves. He was going through them to make sure they didn't have to be rewritten, or were a part of the Uchiha collection, then checking for any damaged. If they weren't a book that needed to be rewritten, or a collection, he figured out how damaged they were to decide if he should just trash them, keep them for himself or donate them.

So far, he had gone through about four of the floor to ceiling shelves and already had six rather large boxes filled with books to donate, three boxes full of rewriting projects, and several dozen Uchiha collection books.

Walking back to the bookcases, he moved the ladder and started to shift through the top shelf one book at a time, ignoring the sound of the door opening as he flipped through the second book on the shelf. He couldn't ignore the sound of Kisame laughing though, pulling a soft sigh from him.

"You two are late. By three hours," he called out, Itachi and Kisame stepping into the living room. Itachi had dressed in a simple pair of black pants, shirt and mesh, looking very much like he had when Sasuke had been a young child. His hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and he was carry a large plastic tote full of cleaning supplies. Kisame had dressed much like his lover, but had put his new Konohagakure headband around his waist instead of his forehead. He too carried a large tote that looked to be carrying more cleaning supplies and enough rags to last them a year.

"We were in an appointment with Tsunade-sama that went overly long," Itachi said, putting the tote down onto the floor, out of the way. "Naruto-san has also dropped off a scroll with some ideas for you, but she also wished to speak with me about my eyes."

"I see," Sasuke said, dropping the book in his hand into a box that sat on top of a large pillow. Kisame snickered next to Itachi as he put his own tote down, smirking. "And just what has you laughing this time?" he asked, trying to stop another sigh from escaping.

"I just found out that Itachi here is going to be pretty much the accountant for your clan and for Naruto when his clan starts ta grow in size," Kisame drawled. He smirked at his lover as Itachi huffed at him, rolling his eyes.

"Are you shifting through the books?" Itachi asked, changing the conversation, Sasuke nodding as he pulled off a new book. "Then we shall start on checking over the furniture and cleaning off what we can," he stated, finding a water bucket, rags, and some of the already made bottles of cleaner and wood polish. Kisame grabbed his own stuff while Itachi moved to tug the sheets off of the various pieces of furniture.

Kisame grunted and opened a window before hauling the sheets out of the house to toss them onto a pile on the porch, coming back for each one, following his lover from room to room.

Sasuke continued to go through the books, moving to a new one just as Itachi and Kisame came back from taking the sheets to their temporary home to start the washing of the sheets. As they checked the furniture, Sasuke continued through the books, trusting his brother and his brother's lover to choose which pieces would be donated, and which ones were heirloom pieces that would end up in a memorial museum for their clan.

He had learned that Itachi had been planning on doing such a thing for some of the family's pieces since before the clan's massacre.

Sighing as he placed a photo album into a sealing scroll, Sasuke finished with the sixth shelf, he stepped away from the shelf and found that the boxes he had filled had been moved to the one empty room in the house for the moment. Leaving the living room, he found Itachi running a cloth with wood cleaner over the dining room table while Kisame checked the chairs methodically.

"Found anything yet?" he asked, looking over the two men.

Kisame just grunted at him and nodded. "Yeah, a few things," he said, nodding his head to the small kitchen fireplace as he brushed his hands off. "I'm guessing that someone in the household tried to burn something. I found a few slips of paper with writing on it. They were old and fragile, but they weren't anything amazing. Just letters from a girl to her ex-fiance. Don't think you would want those saved."

Sasuke shook his head at that.

"No, not really. Anything that is connected to the coup, yes, personal things like that? No. Most of the clan didn't know a thing about it after all and we do want to keep their privacy as much as possible anyways. Anyone that is known for sure as to who was a part of that idiocy is going to be a part of a single room with all of the information that we can find," Sasuke said. Itachi just smiled and nodded. "I need to finish off the last four bookcases and then I must send a message to my therapist," he said, leaving the two men.

Kisame and Itachi followed after him. "Therapist?" Kisame asked, giving him an odd look. They had been in the village for just under a week, but so far they hadn't heard a thing about a therapist.

Sasuke just gave him a dark look, huffing softly. "Yes, a therapist. Naruto suggested that I speak with a Yamanaka therapist who he goes to see sometimes about all of the issues I have." He moved his ladder. "I agreed to it because even I can see that something is fucked up in my head, especially after the massacre. And it's not just the way you stuck me in a genjutsu, but also Madara fucking around with me. He apparently made it three times worse than what you had set it to be. He also came around about the time that I was waking up from it and screwed with the memories I had of that night while leaving behind some hypnotic suggestions."

He pulled a new box to him as Itachi and Kisame shared a look, marking it 'donation', then marking other boxes with 'keeping/collections', 'rewriting', and 'burn'.

"The suggestion actually ramped up my need to avenge the clan, keep everyone away from me, viewing them as weak and useless, and to do pretty much anything and everything that I can to get myself killed trying to kill you. Or to actually kill you. Either way, it was all to fuck over the Uchiha's place in the village," he finally said, capping the marker and shoving it into a pocket.

"But then you fixed all of that when you contracted the clan as a vassal clan for the next three generations," Itachi drawled, smirking slightly.

Sasuke chuckled and shrugged, rolling up the full sealing scroll before marking it with what it carried within. "I fucked that over long ago when Orochimaru started to teach me how to turn my mind inwards and fix a few mental issues and then fully when I contacted Naruto before we went after the bastard. And helped find all sorts of information on his people to funnel to Orochimaru."

Kisame burst into laughter, the sound sharp and amused. "Oh dear, little Uchiha, you did more than just fuck his plans over. You and your friend there well and truly _skull fucked_ them over," he drawled, leering at the other male.

Sasuke just gave him a dry look and shook his head. "Now that's an image. One that I didn't need to have. At least now I have an icebreaker for my next meeting with my therapist," he said, walking out of the room. "I need to head out and donate these books though. I'll just get to my therapist early today," he said, moving to seal the boxes into a scroll and grabbing his shoes. "I'll be back by dinner. And don't start fucking in this house please? I have enough issues to worry about without wondering what a stain is," he called out as he headed out of the house.

Itachi smirked slightly as the door slammed shut and Sasuke's chakra signature left the compound. He led his lover into the kitchen to start going through the things within. "I have a feeling that he's going to try very hard to either have us move into a smaller house or move into one himself," he drawled.

Kisame snickered at that. "What? Is us fucking every night too hard for him to listen to?" he asked, teasing his lover as he opened one cabinet.

Itachi hummed and shook his head. "I have a feeling that it is not us fucking that disturbs him. But rather it is the fact that he himself is not able to find a lover at the moment. Yes, he has had lovers, or so I can tell, but nothing solid and real. And not since he has come back. I believe that he has played with Hyuuga Neji while they were working together, and the last time would have been about three week ago. He is unused to not having a lover in his bed that he can trust."

"Who was his last real lover?" Kisame asked asked as he started to pull cooking dishes out of the cabinet, letting Itachi start to go through them. They had to find the heirlooms after all.

"It was Suigetsu-san," Itachi admitted. "I think though that he has gone back to Mizu since the new Hokage has sent out mass pardons for a lot of the missing nin's of her village," he continued. "That was right after Sasuke had decided to return to the village though. I believe that Jugo is staying in one of the further outset homes currently. If I remember right, it is near the woods and close to the walls of our land, far enough to allow him to have his space. But still in a good place strategically to be of use along that area should it be attacked," he said.

"And the chick?" Kisame asked. Itachi shook his head as he and Kisame moved to a floor table near the fireplace, wanting to check it out before they continued, flipping it over so that the Uchiha could check the bottom of it.

"Sasuke has only ever slept with two females. And neither of them will ever be Karin quite frankly. He does not deal with most women very well," Itachi said as he frowned. "He tends to hold a much higher expectation for women than for men. Any woman who is chosen to be a surrogate for him must be strong, physically, mentally and emotionally. And I have spoken with Naruto-san about Sasuke's rants against their third teammate. I believe that her name is Haruno Sakura. It seems as if she still holds the dream that she will be chosen to be Mrs. Uchiha, either with him or, now, with me. Her temper though is a definite drawback, and I have heard that even Lee-san has withdrawn his affections towards her."

"Well damn," Kisame snorted as he felt a wobble in a leg. "I can fix that with some specialized wood glue, not an issue. It does need to be stripped and sanded down before we do anything with it. It has the mark."

"We will go buy the needed items tomorrow," Itachi promised as he pulled out a pad of stick-it notes and wrote down what needed to be done. They flipped the table over and moved it out of the way.

Kisame paused before another cabinet before leering over at his lover. "So, tell me, what are the chances of me havin' two Uchiha's in my bed for the rest of our lives?" he asked. He started to dig out things in the cabinet as Itachi pulled out the pitcher of water in the refrigerator.

Itachi hummed and poured some water into two cups that he rinsed out and handed one over to his lover as he turned back to sifting through dishes. "Pretty good if we do it just right," he said as he put aside a platter. The two lovers shared a knowing smirk as they returned to their chores.

It was good to finally be home. So very good.


	59. Our Truth 63

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 63

Characters: Genma, Raidou, Izumo, Kotetsu

Word count: 1507

Warnings: some talk of sex

AN: Yeah, these four just can't stop getting it on...

* * *

"Oh by all of the Gods, I do love being in our own apartment," Kotetsu groaned as he flopped down onto the couch that they had just unsealed and replaced. Izumo hummed softly in reply as he pushed their recliner into place. "Finally we are done having to share Genma's and Raidou's apartment. I really do like their place, after all it's huge, but I swear that having to shove us in it along with the guards was a little much," he huffed.

Izumo just chuckled at him and tossed a couch pillow at his lover, smiling and shaking his head. "Help me finish unpacking our shit, you pain in my ass. I'm very sure that Genma and Raidou will end up arriving in a few minutes with anything that we forget to grab this morning," he said. Kotetsu just smirked as he put the pillow down next to him on the couch but took the scroll that held the rest of their decorative items. He unsealed the rest of the pillows that sat on the couch and recliners, allowing Izumo to move them around, and turned to arrange the vase with fake flower senbon and a few other items that were hidden weaponry.

While he worked on that, Izumo moved into the kitchen, starting to put the pots, pans and cooking utensils away, unsealing each item to figure out what they were. He was rearranging their pots that they had hanging from hooks over the stove when Genma strolled into the apartment with a few small sealing scrolls in his hands, smirking around his senbon.

"I was able to find a few things that the two of you left behind at my place, 'Zumo," he drawled, wiggling one scroll. "And the last of your clothes in the laundry." A second scroll was wiggled, before both of them were placed onto the kitchen table and he leered. "And a few other things. Things that I would unseal in the bedroom," he finished as he put it down next to the other two scrolls on the table.

Izumo blushed lightly as he grabbed the scroll from Genma. "I'll just take this into the bedroom then. I need to actually make our bed since we didn't strip it before we left," he said. Kotetsu leered as he walked back to them. Raidou walked into the apartment, rolling his eyes.

"Would ya stop teasing our adorable chunin?" Raidou huffed, reaching out to prod his lover in his ribs before he moved to finish unsealing the kitchen scroll items for Izumo. He found the plates and bowls first, putting them away before he found the silverware, including a few sets of reusable chopsticks and dozens of throwaway chopsticks. He put everything away where it was to go. "So tell me, how does it feel to be back in your own apartment?" he asked as he put the chopstick containers onto the wall shelf.

Kotetsu smiled and hummed in pleasure, finding the scroll that held all of their food that they had gone shopping for that morning, unsealing the dry goods first. He put them away as he thought about it, finding their freezer bags. "To be truthful? It feels really good to be home. I love the two of you, I do, but being stuck in the same apartment as you two and our guards kind of sucked," he admitted, shrugging as he unsealed the meat. "Though I do think that Iruka has finally moved into a bigger apartment. He said something about being spoiled rotten by having an actual office space. And since he can actually afford to move after those bounties were given over, he moved into an apartment here," he said, shrugging.

"I saw that he was moving up into 40C upstairs," Raidou admitted as he leant against the counter as he watched Izumo walk out from the bedroom with a load of sheets and blankets in his arms. Izumo walked to a basket and dropped them. He watched as the slimmer man walked back into the bedroom once again. "Izumo really doesn't let you do any of the laundry does he?" he asked, still amused by that fact.

Kotetsu just groaned at that. "He hasn't let me do any laundry since we were kids and had to move in with a few of our older friends to be able to be proper nins without my mom fussing at us. I accidentally dyed his favorite sheets gold once during that time and he never forgave me after I did that," he huffed. "But that's fine since I tend to cook and do dishes since he does all of the laundry. It works well for us."

"I never did figure out how often he does your laundry," Genma mused, his senbon flicking as he adjusted the containers on Raidou. Kotetsu started to separate out the meat into the bags while Raidou found the juice bottles, putting them away and stealing one of the single bottles.

"If you really want to know, I can tell you that he does it every four days. That includes all of our clothing, the bedding, and towels, rags, and the such. He goes through everything once a month to see how things are doing in regards to scent and usage, and takes the curtains down to wash them at the same time. That's our once a month, two-day weekend kind of thing though," Kotetsu admitted. "I'll also give the house a basic clean down every four days, and then we'll do a day of shopping together. Once every three months though, we scrub the apartment down, top to bottom."

"And what about your weapon upkeep?" Raidou asked. Genma rolled his eyes as he smiled at his lover. He and their friends were more than used to his need to make sure that they were keeping up to date on their weapons and making sure that they were ready to use.

"We tend to go over them every night to every other night depending on what our shifts are, and how tired we happen to be," Izumo replied as he walked past them with a basket in hand, having added several sets of clothes to the laundry. "We have our schedule worked out so that we can keep it up since our schedule as desk chunin tend to be on the odd side occasionally," he continued, shoving the pocket door to the laundry room out of his way and stepping into the room just off the kitchen.

He dropped the basket onto the small counter while Kotetsu smiled and started to put the bagged meat into their refrozen freezer. "How is it not having us or the guards under your feet while you do things?" he asked teasingly.

Genma moaned happily at him, beaming. "It's a perfect day so far for me," he chuckled, helping Kotetsu in putting away the meat. "Being able to walk around my own apartment without worrying about finding someone running around to see my bits without them being my lover is nice," he said, tilting his head back while still smiling. "It's a breather. Though, me and Raidou are gonna be doing a lot of our own cleaning."

"We weren't that bad were we?" Izumo asked from the laundry room as he started to separate out the laundry into other baskets.

Raidou came to stand in the doorway and shook his head in return. "No, you guys weren't," he promised, smiling softly. "It's more of a thing to reclaim our place. There's something that makes a home a home again after having to share it when you clean the house and remove the traces of your company," he said, smiling softly at his friend as Izumo hummed and nodded.

"I can understand that need. Can you make sure that I brought back our laundry soap please?" Izumo asked. Raidou pushed away from the doorway and checked the scrolls to see if they had. He shook his head and turned to leave the laundry room when he couldn't find it in those scrolls but smiled when he was handed it by Genma as he walked out of the room. Smiling, he handed it off to Izumo, the man taking it with an amused look on his face.

It didn't take Izumo very long to start the first round of laundry and go back to cleaning the bedroom out with Raidou's help. It didn't take long after that before Kotetsu got permission from Genma to have Izumo borrow his lover and called out to Raidou to pounce the man and fuck him bowlegged.

The yelp that came with the moans following after made him smirk. He didn't complain when he was bent over the table and Genma showed him just how good he was with his mouth. He found out well and truly, again, that the senbon wasn't just for show.

It was a perfect way to start to re-christen their home.


	60. Our Truth 64

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 6

Characters: Iruka, Choji, Inoichi, Gai

Word count: 1981

Warnings: nothing major

AN: Why did I post this chapter last week? I wasn't feeling good actually. My soft touch keyboard died and I wasn't able to sleep. I've slept and I'm writing today so it's looking good.

I am working on SO much. Including going through my various hand written stories and I'm going to be working on finishing a few of those hand written stories along with Walk the Edge, Breath Unto Me, and a couple of other stories that I have going.

So I hope you all enjoy today's chapter!

* * *

Putting the last of the larger scrolls down, Iruka sighed as he slowly stretched his arms up and over his head as Choji groaned, unrolling one of the largest of them. "Why did you have to pack everything up like this?" he asked. Iruka chuckled softly at him.

"Originally I decided to do it just in case some idiot who was under the assholes control, or even someone hired by the Akatsuki, decided to come in and rig the other apartment. It is easier to hide things in a full apartment that is being left alone for months at a time, a few visits notwithstanding. That and I was going to move anyways, this just pushed me to finally do it," Iruka said, shrugging with a smile. "All of the furniture that I bought myself was shoved into scrolls and I kept the bed though since we had sex on it and to buy the frame and bed was cheap."

"Ah, that would be a good idea since we did do that multiple times," Choji drawled, smirking slightly at the soft blush on Iruka's cheek. "Where did Gai get off to?" he asked.

"Well, since he was allowed to head back home again, he packed his things up and headed to his apartment to clean things out. I think he has asked Inoichi-san over for tea. He said to reconnect and go over a few things that Gai learned while he was working with us," Iruka mused, shrugging one shoulder. "Or so he said this morning."

Choji made a considering noise and took the biggest scroll for the living room, unrolling the first quarter of it and unsealed the couch, Iruka helping him to move it into place. They did the same to the coffee and bedroom side tables before they unpacked the bookcases and living room side tables. They unpacked the dining room furniture along with the bedroom and office furniture before flopping down onto the couch while Iruka huffed softly.

"I still have so much to unpack and put away. Fuck moving any time soon," Iruka whined. Choji chuckled softly and pulled him close, stroking down his side and hip with a smile. He was still dealing with some surprise at just how close he and Iruka had become but he supposed that when you were stuck spending so much time together that it was kind of inevitable.

Especially since he had learned that Iruka was such a cuddle slut that he used any chance that he could to just cuddle next to him, loving his size. The teacher had admitted that he had dated Mizuki because he had seemed nice, but his cuddles had been all sharp angles and hard muscles. Iruka like the fact that Choji was soft and strong, hidden muscles and all.

"I'll be helping you today, so don't worry so much about that," Choji promised, Iruka humming as he curled up against him fully, just relaxing with a sigh. Shifting, the two relaxed into the couch, just unwinding from all of the changes that had been going on in the last few weeks.

They had been under some kind of stress ever since that first attack against their desk chunins. Because it didn't take long for Naruto to get attack and from there had learned that it was a concentrated effort to get into the Archives and take out Naruto in some way. Iruka had moved into Naruto's home while Izumo and Kotetsu had moved into Genma's and Raidou's apartment, all of them under constant supervision. All of this while _still_ trying to do their jobs and discover just who the hell was stupid enough to try for them.

But they had finally taken out the Akatsuki, brought back new allies and old friends, and taken out Danzo once and for all.

Shifting around, Iruka looked up at Choji and smiled slightly, tilting his head to the side. "How about we head out to lunch before we do any more unpacking? It's my treat. I have quite a bit left over and you can help me shop to stock my pantry afterwards. I will even make dinner tonight as my thanks, along with that one cake that you liked so much," he offered.

Choji smiled and gently squeezed Iruka's hip, thumb rubbing a bit. "How about I make some chocolate mousse with white chocolate dipped strawberries and you make dinner instead?" he said in return.

Iruka blushed and nodded, knowing that the other man was making the offer because he knew he loved mousses. That and the fact that he loved the fact that the dipped strawberries Choji did were always perfectly done. No one beyond Naruto had ever bothered to learn of his weaknesses before and it showed him just how much Choji did care for him.

"That sounds just perfect," Iruka said, standing up and heading for his bedroom to grab his wallet and make sure that he had his money in it. Choji pushed himself off of the couch and checked his own wallet to make sure that he had some money to pitch in on the food shopping. With money checked, the two slid their shoes on, Iruka locking and using the seals that Naruto had placed down for him that morning, all the while grumping about being out of bed, to protect them. They left with the door closing solidly behind them.

Iruka laughed and smiled as they walked, talking with his lover, feeling content even as his mind went back to past lovers he had been with. As he thought about it, he had never felt quite as comfortable as he was finding himself with Choji. Which said something since the man wasn't trying, he was just being. Being himself, being who he was, which made him something very special.

Choji on the other hand was marveling mentally at the fact that he was doing more with Iruka then he had thought would have been possible. He had always admired the man, from all the way back in the academy to the present day. And even later after he had learned that the chunin was a strong fighter, but still preferred to teach instead of fight. But to be getting so close to him in such a way hadn't even been thought of as a possibility.

He had decided while they had been finishing things up that he would see where their relationship went instead of worrying about it much as he slipped an arm around Iruka's waist. The shy, blushing smile was adorable.

"Well, well, what a surprise to see the two of you here," Inoichi drawled as he walked up to the two of them, Gai smiling next to him. Iruka and Choji raised an eyebrow at the fact that Gai was dressed rather normally for him. He was wearing a pair of simple pants that most nins wore and a long sleeved shirt that was tight but with enough give for any of his normal fighting movements. He looked different.

Iruka was the one who had the guts to say it. "Keep wearing your green outfit, Gai. It looks better on you. Or maybe go for a slightly darker version without the orange leg warmers," he said. He shook his head before smiling at them. "Did you finally ask Inoichi-san out on a date?" he asked teasingly.

Gai blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head as Inoichi smirked at him. "Actually, I got to him first. He was planning on doing it once he had done some laundry, thus the rather different outfit. But I heard that he was home for good finally. Ino was very surprised when I asked him out," Inoichi chuckled.

Choji just snorted at that with an amused look. "Have you told dad and Shikaku-san about your plants?" he asked, Inoichi nodding his head with a smirk. "Good. If you guys don't mind though, we're heading off to my family's new restaurant. Iruka here has been wanting to try it but he hasn't had any time to do that. Especially not with all the bullshit lately."

"Oh? We were heading there too. I hear that they have many types of dishes that come from around the main lands of our world," Gai said, beaming brightly. Iruka just squinted slightly at the gleam of his smile.

Choji chuckled as he nodded. "Yeah, one of my uncles married a really nice guy whose family traveled all over, collecting recipes and ingredients from all over the place. So when they got engaged, they just asked for help with their start up fund for the new restaurant and decided to focus on those collected recipes." Iruka smiled sweetly at that. "They're all really good and actually my uncle-in-law is teaching me some of them that he has when we have time. He also is working on creating recipe books for the base recipes that they've tweaked and learned. Adding in stories of his family too."

"Oh, you mean like the books that your mother puts together every so often?" Iruka asked, Choji nodding his head. "Do remind me to show her some of the recipes that my grandmother was able to save from Uzushiogakure no Sato."

Choji, Inoichi, and Gai all stared at him, getting blinked at by the wide, innocent eyes that they didn't trust. "How in the world would your grandmother have gotten any of the recipes from there? Some of those family recipes were as safeguarded as their family fuin-jutsus were," Inoichi finally got out.

Iruka smiled at him. "My great-grandmother was a Keeper of Heritage for Uzushio. Part of being a Keeper is keeping detailed records of everything that happened in the village while also adding that to the records. And that did include recipes from all of the families to keep safe. They included the general recipes from the Uzu no Kuni area. I've already given Naruto his family history so that he can add to it using his mother's diaries and his own story for any future descendants."

Choji smiled softly and leant down slightly to kiss his cheek. "My mother would love to see any of the recipes that you have that you can share," he said. "So would my uncle-in-law. They have only about two of them because that's all they were able to learn before things went bad."

Iruka nodded as he pressed against Choji's side a bit more. "I've been slowly sending out word about the fact that I'm the current Keeper and have gotten a few letters and journals back to add to the collection. A few lines have died off outside of a couple of people," he said. "Come on, let's go eat. I'll tell you all about my duties over some delicious lunch," he promised.

Inoichi and Gai shared a look before they quickly followed after the two, still surprised at the fact that Iruka had so many duties that no one knew about. It was nice though, knowing that he was willing to open up and talk about it. And if they got to learn something about the history of Uzushio, then that was all the better for them. Especially if they could use it to get that part of their own history put _back_ into the academy's curriculum.

Iruka just smiled up at his lover, Choji snorting at the look, having figured out that his lover had just manipulated one of the master manipulators perfectly. It was enough to make him say screw it in regards to lunch so that he could take Iruka back to his apartment and christian his new bedroom.

But he stopped himself, barely. He had a feeling that life wasn't ever going to be boring with Iruka as his partner, that was for sure.


	61. Our Truth 65

Title: Our Truth

Fandom: Naruto

Part: 65

Characters: Many

Word count: 2110

Warnings: nothing

AN: Oh my...is it...? Why yes, yes it is.

This is the last chapter of this wild rollarcoaster of a story. There might pop up some oneshots if the muse gives them to me. I have a oneshot where Kankuro and Naruto go on a date. But not much else.

I kind of lost the paper with all of the oneshot ideas I had. *looks at the mess that is her room* Anyways, I hope that you have enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it!

To my reviewers: Thank you. I can not say this enough. You guys made my day seeing your reviews in my inbox and knowing that you enjoyed it.

To my readers, thank you for coming by and reading this. I hope you keep coming for future stories.

To note starting Monday, August 28, 2017, I will be posting an Avengers/Kuroshitsuji that Cutsycat sparked in me.

So keep a look out for that.

* * *

It was absolutely amazing what a year could do for a village. Especially for a small part of said village.

The career chunins had easily fallen back into their usual routines once more, working on finishing up the massive clean out of the main Archives and the so called 'public Archives' after four months of dealing with things. Tsunade on the other hand was having a field day in overhauling everything with the dynamo's permission, much to several of the civilian clan's unhappiness. Not that they could do anything since Tsunade and the daimyo were well liked.

And that the changes was bringing more money into the village.

Naruto and Kankuro had settled into their life living together, even having separate rooms for those nights that they wanted a bit of privacy. Kankuro had taken on a genin team as co-sensei with Asuma to show that first team how Suna trained their genin. Naruto had his official certificate that stated his training was done. He had also received his portion of the bounties and payment for his part in the Akatsuki mission.

It made him happy, and Kankuro loved a happy Naruto since it meant that the other man was happy enough to jump him randomly when they had a few minutes. Or when they were hanging out and he wanted a little something.

Haku and Zabuza had found their own place within the village with very little bumps in the road.

Haku had been offered and taken the spot as Shizune's assistant at the hospital, helping her to give it a full overhaul on what the nurses and doctors could and couldn't do. They had also had to take and keep taking classes every so often to update their knowledge and brush up on old knowledge.

While Haku was working on that, Zabuza had passed several tests and become more of a personal bodyguard to Tsunade after an assassination attempt had taken out three of her specially trained ANBU. He had been doing a tour of the village that night, having nightmares, and found the body of one of the ANBU. He hadn't killed the idiots but he had given them over to Ibiki before giving him some ideas.

After that, they became drinking buddies, Zabuza cackling each time that Ibiki moaned about the fact that he would kill for a career chunin to work the ANBU mission desk for him for the first month.

Genma and Raidou had stayed themselves, just the way people like them. Genma was still a pervert with an appreciative eye for all the types of pretty out there while Raidou tried hard to keep his lover from insulting someone. He still had the same eye as his lover, but he never admitted to it. They still played sometimes with Izumo and Kotetsu, forming some kind of odd four way bond between them that their fellow co-workers had shrugged about.

Kotetsu and Izumo had finally decided to settle in and talk about adopting kids since they had ended up with a pay raise, and the bounties and mission pay that they had gotten had created a lovely next egg. They weren't sure when it would happen, or if they wouldn't just go for a surrogate, but they were talking.

The interesting fact that Iruka was Uzushio's current Keeper had spread like wildfire. He had admitted that he had known it would happen if he did it right. He had been contacted already by several people who could remember Uzushio and who were descendents of the clans. Even Naruto had discovered a few distant cousins among them and had become pen-pals with them.

Kumogakure, Amegakure, and Iwagakure were all frothing at the mouth but they knew that they couldn't do anything about their people connecting with a Keeper of Knowledge. Especially in Iwa's and Ame's case since the last time they had tried to stop them, the idiot had been strung up by his bits in the middle of winter on a flagpole.

Along with that, they had discovered that when the Akatsuki had been taken out that a lot of their financial backing had been yanked out from under their feet, leaving them on unsteady ground. They had been forced into signing treaties by the other villages that they would behave and in return their products and services would be bought.

The politicians and old times of the villages hadn't really been happy about that happening, but the rest of their villagers had been ecstatic.

Otogakure was still open and running like any other village, but not by Orochimaru, the man having given it up to Nagato and Konan just nine months after everything had gone down. It had taken another two months after that for them to be able to take it over though. Nagato had become happy and healthy, his system still a little fragile but better. He knew that he was to visit Konohagakure at least once every three months for the rest of his life to meet with Tsunade, and then later when she passed, Shizune and Haku.

Konan just beamed with pride and motherly delight at the fact that she had her lover fully functioning again and was nearly a month pregnant with their first child. Nagato had had a small freak out before loving her until she couldn't move. She was currently planning the wedding that would happen after she gave birth, having to play politics with it since she knew that she was marrying an official Kage.

Orochimaru had worked on helping clear his name, and all of the information that wasn't sensitive in certain ways had been laid out, pointing to Madara for all of the bullshit that had happened in the last fifty years. He had moved back into the village happily, reclaiming the land of his family and rebuilding most of the land, taming it back into what it had been. Kabuto had moved in the day after Orochimaru had finished with the kitchen and labs of the house and hadn't left. Not that either of them wanted him to move.

Surprisingly enough, Anko had decided to start to go to therapy for her problems with Orochimaru and what had gone on during the years after he had left. The mark had been removed after a few tests and her chakra network was healing just fine, but her mind hadn't been. So, after talking with Ibiki, she had decided to see one of the ANBU therapists. she was getting better, and had actually been able to talk to Orochimaru about what had gone on and gotten his view point.

It wasn't fixed, not yet, still broken in some places and cracked in others, but it was getting better. With time and a lot of mental glue.

Outside of Iruka's forever interesting job as Uzushio's Keeper, he was still happily dating Choji, much to Choji's family's delight once they had discovered that Iruka loved to cook and experiment in the kitchen in his free time. They tended to get some looks for those who didn't know the two lovers, or weren't around them all that often, but they tended to ignore it and go about their day anyways.

Iruka had also been talking of reopening his family home up again and settling in, but he knew that it would take him nearly a year to get it back to something habitable since it was an older home. On top of that, everything had to be cleaned out, and the plumbing and electricity fixed up.

The letters that they got from Suna had been the biggest surprise though. Gaara and Kiba had sent letters telling everyone important that they had started a relationship while Temari was expecting Jiraiya's child in three months. For Kiba and Gaara, their friends had all agreed that it wasn't that much of a surprise since even before they had left for Suna, Gaara had been stalking the Inuzuka.

What had been the real shocker was the fact that Temari had actually decided to jump Jiraiya the moment that she was fertile and had put his stamina to the ultimate test. Four days of constant sex later, and she was walking away pregnant while he limped to the healers to get cream for his chafed dick. Not that he was complaining the moment that she told him that she was going to have his kid. She had stated that she wanted a kid and had the money to take care of a child, but he had still set up an account for her to use in raising the kid. And wanted to at least be considered an 'uncle'.

Naruto called it cute.

What the rest of the Rookie 9, and everyone else found sickeningly cute was the way Itachi and Kisame stalked Sasuke around as he tried to deny that he was with the both of them. Naruto had said that he could feel a cavity start when it came to the three of them, which had prompted his friend to jump him for a spar.

That and Sasuke had denied that they were cute.

Even though he didn't say it outloud in front of people, Sasuke was quite happy with Kisame and Itachi. They were already talking about how best to remove the one gene in their DNA that triggered their insanity with the activation of their Sharingan. Shizune was working on that particular research project with Orochimaru and Tsunade.

Beyond Sasuke accepting his lovers, he had been the one to discover just what Sakura was up to when it had come to her actions in regards to the seals on the wall that protected Naruto's land. He had found her notes on them and had learned that she was trying to unravel them. She had been called before Tsunade and Naruto and confronted by the two of them.

Her admittance that she didn't believe that they had been created by the Fourth Hokage had made Naruto sneer at her and Tsunade snort in dark amusement. The fact that she believed that Naruto had blinded everyone into thinking he was the child of the Fourth when there was no record of a wife in his life had made the both of them beyond pissed.

They had discovered, quite by accident, that outside of that delusion in regards to Naruto, she had one when it came to Sasuke. Both issues had been going since they had been academy students and later on the same Genin team. She had been put under the care of the nin side of the psychiatric ward of the hospital while she worked through all of her issues.

She still denied that Naruto was the son of Minato and Kushina, and still believed that he had fooled them all in some way.

Naruto and everyone else had just ignored her rantings and supposed 'evidence' that she had, everyone knowing that the walls had been up for longer than Naruto had been alive. And with the release of the marriage license and Naruto's birth certificate, signed by the Third himself, those doubts had been brutally murdered.

ROOT and all of its operatives were still being cleared, even close to eight months after Danzo's death. Sai had turned out to be a great help, much to his bemusement, showing the other operatives who had been cleared how to live without Danzo. He was also dating Ino and having a lot of sex with her, which had helped him to be relaxed and happy with life.

Gai and Inoichi had started to date soon after the missions, and were still going strong, having found something that they had been missing without knowing it. Neji had actually started to date Shino three months after the mission had finished. Hinata had moved on from Naruto to Rock Lee once they learned of Naruto's relationship with Kankuro. Lee had explained that that he found Hinata to be a strong but delicate flower with a much better personality than Sakura ever had.

They were just waiting for Hinata to take over as the head of the Hyuga clan in the next year before they became engaged, but were starting to plan. Shikamaru on the other hand had started to date a lower clan member of the Yamanaka clan, but he didn't have much hope for that relationship to last since he had a thing for someone he couldn't have.

Not that he knew that Asuma was planning on showing him just how much he could have what he wanted while Kurenai rolled her eyes and went to gather Anko to take her home with her.


End file.
